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diff --git a/17513-8.txt b/17513-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4292c22 --- /dev/null +++ b/17513-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6558 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, +Vol. 5, Nov 1877-Nov 1878, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, Nov 1877-Nov 1878 + No 1, Nov 1877 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Mary Mapes Dodge + +Release Date: January 14, 2006 [EBook #17513] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Lesley Halamek and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +ST. NICHOLAS: + +SCRIBNER'S ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE + +FOR GIRLS AND BOYS, + +CONDUCTED BY + +MARY MAPES DODGE. + +VOLUME V. + +NOVEMBER, 1877, TO NOVEMBER, 1878. + +SCRIBNER & CO., NEW YORK. + + + + +Copyright by SCRIBNER & CO., 1878. + +PRESS OF FRANCIS HART & CO. + +NEW YORK + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +Child-Queen, A. (Illustrated by Alfred Fredericks) Cecilia Cleveland 1 + +Chased by Wolves. (Illustrated) George Dudley Lawson 3 + +Jingle: There was an Old Person of Crewd. (Illustrated by K. W. P.) 6 + +Mollie's Boyhood. (Illustrated by George White) Sarah E. Chester 7 + +*The Largest Volcano in the World. (Illustrated) Sarah Coan 13 + +Making it Skip. Verse. (Illustrated by Thomas Moran) M. M. D. 15 + +*Willow Wand, The. Poem. (Illustrated) A. E. W. 16 + +*Story that Wouldn't be Told, The. (Illustrated) Louise Stockton 18 + +Polly: A Before-Christmas Story. (Illustrated) Hope Ledyard 19 + +Boggs's Photograph. Picture. 21 + +Lord Mayor of London's Show, The. (Illustrated) Jennie A. Owen 22 + +My Girl. Poem. John S. Adams 25 + +Mars, the Planet of War. (Illustrated by the Author) + Richard A. Proctor 26 + +*Domestic Tragedy, A. In Two Parts (Illustration) 31 + +Bell-Ringers, The Stickleback. (Illustrated by James C. Beard) + C. F. Holder 31 + +Cricket on the Hearth, The. Poem. (Illustrated )Clara Doty Bates 33 + +How I Weighed the Thanksgiving Turkey. G. M. Shaw 34 + +Nimble Jim and the Magic Melon. (Illustrated by E. B. Bensell) + J. A. Judson 34 + +"Oh, I'm My Mamma's Lady-Girl." Verse. (Illustrated by + Addie Ledyard) M. M. D. 41 + +Christmas-Gifts, A Budget of Home-Made. (Illustrated) 42 + +*Little Tweet. (Illustrated) 64 + +*Jack-in-the-Pulpit. (Illustrated) 66 + +Can a Little Child Like Me? (Thanksgiving Hymn) Mary Mapes Dodge 68 + +"Baby's Opera" and Walter Crane, The. 69 + +*The Letter Box. 69 + +*The Moons of Mars. 69 + +*The Riddle Box. (Illustrated) 71 + + + +[Transcriber's Notes: +For ease of navigation, this Table of Contents has been taken from the +full contents listing for the volume. +Some entries were missing from the index. For completeness they have +been added and marked with an asterisk. + +The full list of contents for Volume V is to be found at the end of this +text. + +p. 27: changed 'rains' to 'trains': +...--; just like the +lines by which trains are made to run easily off one +track on to another. + +p. 30: Missing opening quote replaced: +"The snows that glittered on the disc of Mars..." + +p. 31:' replaced with ": +"Don't you think, papa, that that's enough about +the sun? Come and play with us on the lawn." + +p. 59: Missing ) replaced, +...(widening the strip, +however, in proportion as the fabric is thinner). + +Music Notation (Our Music Page) has been added.] + + * * * * * + + + +[Illustration: KING RICHARD II. AND HIS CHILD-QUEEN.] + + * * * * * + + +ST. NICHOLAS. + + + VOL. V. NOVEMBER, 1877. No. 1. + +[Copyright, 1877, by Scribner & Co.] + + * * * * * + + + +A CHILD QUEEN. + +BY CECILIA CLEVELAND. + + +I wonder how many of the little girl readers of ST. NICHOLAS are fond +of history? If they answer candidly, I do not doubt that a very large +proportion will declare that they prefer the charming stories they +find in ST. NICHOLAS to the dull pages of history, with its countless +battles and murdered sovereigns. But history is not every bit dull, +by any means, as you will find if your elder sisters and friends will +select portions for you to read that are suitable to your age and +interests. Perhaps you are very imaginative, and prefer fairy tales to +all others. I am sure, then, that you will like the story I am about +to tell you, of a little French princess, who was married and crowned +Queen of England when only eight years old, and who became a widow at +twelve. + +This child-sovereign was born many hundred years ago--in 1387--at the +palace of the Louvre in Paris, of whose noble picture-gallery I am +sure you all have heard,--if, indeed, many of you have not seen it +yourselves. She was the daughter of the poor King Charles VI., whose +misfortunes made him insane, and for whose amusement playing-cards +were invented, and of his queen, Isabeau of Bavaria, a beautiful but +very wicked woman. Little Princess Isabella was the eldest of twelve +children. She inherited her mother's beauty, and was petted by her +parents and the entire court of France. + +King Richard II. of England, who was a widower about thirty years old, +was urged to marry again; and, instead of selecting a wife near his +own age, his choice fell upon little Princess Isabella. + +"She is much too young," he was told. "Even in five or six years she +will not be old enough to be married." The king, however, thought +this objection too trifling to stand in the way of his marriage, and +saying, "The lady's age is a fault that every day will remedy," he +sent a magnificent embassy to the court of France, headed by the +Archbishop of Dublin, and consisting of earls, marshals, knights, and +squires of honor uncounted, with attendants to the number of five +hundred. + +When the embassy reached Paris, and the offer of marriage had been +formally accepted, the archbishop and the earls asked to see the +little princess who was soon to become their queen. At first the +French Council refused, saying so young a child was not prepared to +appear on public occasions, and they could not tell how she might +behave. The English noblemen were so solicitous, however, that at last +she was brought before them. The earl marshal immediately knelt before +her, and said, in the old-fashioned language of the time: "Madam, if +it please God, you shall be our lady and queen." + +Queen Isabeau stood at a little distance, curious and anxious, no +doubt, to know how her little daughter would answer this formal +address. To her great pleasure, and the great surprise of all present, +Princess Isabella replied: + +"Sir, if it please God and my father that I be Queen of England, I +shall be well pleased, for I am told I shall then be a great lady." + +Then, giving the marshal her tiny hand to kiss, she bade him rise from +his knees, and leading him to her mother, she presented him to her +with the grace and ease of a mature woman. + +According to the fashion of the time, Princess Isabella was +immediately married by proxy, and received the title of Queen of +England. Froissart, a celebrated historian living at that epoch, says: +"It was very pretty to see her, young as she was, practicing how to +act the queen." + +In a few days, King Richard arrived from England with a gay and +numerous retinue of titled ladies to attend his little bride. After +many grand festivities they were married and were taken in state to +England, where the Baby Queen was crowned in the famous Westminster +Abbey. + +I must not forget to describe the magnificent _trousseau_ that the +King of France gave his little daughter. Her dowry was 800,000 francs +($160,000); her coronets, rings, necklaces, and jewelry of all +sorts, were worth 500,000 crowns; and her dresses were of surpassing +splendor. One was a robe and mantle of crimson velvet, trimmed with +gold birds perched on branches of pearls and emeralds, and another was +trimmed with pearl roses. Do you think any fairy princess could have +had a finer bridal outfit? + +When the ceremonies of the coronation were over, little Isabella's +life became a quiet routine of study; for, although a reigning +sovereign, she was in the position of that young Duchess of Burgundy +of later years, who at the time of her marriage could neither read nor +write. This duchess, who married a grandson of Louis XIV. of France, +was older than Queen Isabella--thirteen years old; and as soon as the +wedding festivities were over, she was sent to school in a convent, +to learn at least to read, as she knew absolutely nothing save how to +dance. Queen Isabella, however, was not sent away to school, but was +placed under the care of a very accomplished lady, a cousin of the +king, who acted as her governess. In her leisure hours, the king, who +was a fine musician, would play and sing for her, and, history gravely +informs us, he would even play dolls with her by the hour! + +But King Richard's days of quiet pleasure with his child-wife were at +last disturbed, and he was obliged to leave her and go to the war in +Ireland. The parting was very sad and affecting, and they never met +again. + +While King Richard was in Ireland, his cousin, Henry of Lancaster, +afterward Henry IV., took possession of the royal treasury, and upon +the return of Richard from his unfortunate campaign, marched at the +head of an army and made a prisoner of him, lodging him in that grim +Tower of London from which so few prisoners ever issued alive. + +Meantime, the poor little queen was hurried from one town to another, +her French attendants were taken from her, and the members of her new +household were forbidden ever to speak to her of the husband she +loved so dearly. Finally, it was rumored that Richard had escaped. +Instantly, this extraordinary little girl of eleven issued a +proclamation saying that she did not recognize Henry IV. (for he was +now crowned King of England) as sovereign; and she set out with an +army to meet her husband. The poor child was bitterly disappointed +upon learning that the rumor was false, and her husband was still a +prisoner, and before long she also was again a prisoner of Henry IV., +this time closely guarded. + +In a few months Richard was murdered in prison by order of King Henry, +and his queen's childish figure was shrouded in the heavy crape of her +widow's dress. Her superb jewelry was taken from her and divided +among the children of Henry IV., and she was placed in still closer +captivity. Her father, the King of France, sent to demand that she +should return to him, but for a long time King Henry refused +his consent. Meantime, she received a second offer of marriage +from--strange to say--the son of the man who had killed her husband +and made her a prisoner, but a handsome, dashing young prince, Harry +of Monmouth, often called "Madcap Hal." Perhaps you have read, or your +parents have read to you, extracts from Shakspeare's "Henry IV.," so +that you know of the wild exploits of the Prince of Wales with his +friends, in turning highwayman and stealing purses from travelers, +often saying, + + "Where shall we take a purse to-morrow, Jack?" + +and finding himself in prison sometimes as a result of such +amusements? Isabella was a child of decided character, and truly +devoted to the memory of her husband, and much as she had enjoyed +her rank she refused to continue it by marrying handsome Madcap Hal, +although he offered himself to her several times, and even as she was +embarking for France. + +Poor little Isabella, who had left France so brilliantly, returned a +sad child-widow, and all that remained to her of her former splendor +was a silver drink-cup and a few saucers. As Shakspeare says: + + "My queen to France, from whence set forth in pomp, + She came adorned hither like sweet May, + Sent back like Hallowmas or shortest day." + +She was received throughout France with joy, and tears of sympathy. + +When Isabella was eighteen. Madcap Hal again offered his hand to her, +supposing she had forgotten her former prejudice, but although she +married again she was so far faithful to the memory of her English +husband that she would not accept the son of his murderer. Some years +later, when Prince Hal was king, he married her beautiful sister +Katherine. + +Isabella's second husband was her cousin, the Duke of Orleans, whose +beautiful poems are considered classic in France. Again she was the +joy of her family and the pride of France, but all her happiness was +destined to be fleeting, for she survived her marriage only one year. +Her husband, who loved her fondly, wrote after her death: + + "Alas! + Death, who made thee so bold, + To take from me my lovely princess, + Who was my comfort, my life, + My good, my pleasure, my riches? + Alas! I am lonely, bereft of my mate-- + Adieu! my lady, my lily! + Our loves are forever severed." + +And in another poem, full of expressions that show how very devoted +was his affection for her, he says: + + "Above her lieth spread a tomb + Of gold and sapphires blue, + The gold doth show her blessedness, + The sapphires mark her true. + + "And round about, in quaintest guise, + Was carved--'Within this tomb there lies + The fairest thing to mortal eyes.'" + +Farewell, sweet Isabella!--a wife at eight, a widow at twelve, and +dead at twenty-two,--your life was indeed short, and, though not +without happy days, sorrow blended largely with its joy! + + + + +CHASED BY WOLVES + +BY GEORGE DUDLEY LAWSON. + + +Some forty years ago the northern part of the State of New York was +very sparsely settled. In one of the remote counties, which for a +name's sake we will call Macy County, a stout-hearted settler, named +Devins, posted himself beyond the borders of civilization, and hewed +for his little family a home in the heart of a forest that extended +all the way from Lake Champlain to Lake Ontario. His nearest neighbor +was six miles away, and the nearest town nearly twenty; but the +Devinses were so happy and contented that the absence of company gave +them no concern. + +It was a splendid place to live in. In summer the eye ranged from the +slope where the sturdy pioneer had built his house over miles and +miles of waving beech and maple woods, away to the dark line of pines +on the high ground that formed the horizon. In the valley below, +Otter Creek, a tributary of the St. Lawrence, wound its sparkling way +northward. When Autumn painted the scene in brilliant hues, and it +lay glowing under the crimson light of October sunsets, the dullest +observer could not restrain bursts of admiration. + +Mr. Devins's first attack on the stubborn forest had been over the +brow of the hill, some four miles nearer Owenton, but his house was +burned down before he had taken his family there from Albany. He had +regretted that he had not "pitched his tent" on the slope of Otter +Creek; so now he began with renewed energy his second home, in which +the closing in of the winter of 1839 found him. He had sixty acres of +rich soil under cultivation at the time of which we are to speak, his +right-hand man being his son Allan,--a rugged, handsome, intelligent +boy of sixteen. + +The winter of '39 was a terrible one; snow set in before the end of +November, and, even in the open country, lay upon the ground until the +beginning of April, while in the recesses of the forest it was found +as late as the middle of June. There was great distress among the +settlers outside of the bounds of civilization, to whom the deep snow +was an impassable barrier. The Devinses neither saw nor heard from +their nearest neighbors from the first of December till near the +beginning of February, when a crust was formed upon the snow +sufficiently firm to bear the weight of a man, and a friendly Cayuga +Indian brought them news of how badly their neighbors fared. + +Mr. Devins was especially touched by the bad case of his friend Will +Inman, who lived on the nearest farm. The poor man lay ill of a fever; +Mrs. Inman was dead and temporarily buried, until her body could be +removed to the cemetery in Owenton, and all the care of the family +devolved upon Esther, his daughter, fourteen years old. After a short +consultation, the next morning breaking bright and clear though very +cold, it was determined to allow Allan to go over the hill to Inman's, +bearing medicine, tea, and other little necessaries for the family. He +was impressively warned to begin his return at so early an hour that +he might reach home before the short day's end, especially because of +the danger from wild animals. The severity of the winter had made the +wolves more venturesome and dangerous than they had been for many +years. Mr. Devins had lost several sheep and hogs, and deemed it +unsafe for any of his family to be caught far from the house at night. + +Allan armed himself with his light rifle, put some biscuits and cold +meat in a pouch strapped to his waist, mounted one of the strong +farm-horses, and set out on his journey. The road through the forest +was better than he expected to find it, as the snow had been drifted +off, but at the turns, and in the thickest part of the wood, his horse +floundered through drifts more than breast high; and more than once +Allan had to dismount and beat a path ahead. Therefore, he did not +reach Inman's till two o'clock, and, by the time he had helped Esther +about her work, assisted her young brother to get in a good supply of +wood, and made things more comfortable for the invalid, it was almost +sundown. He stoutly refused to wait for supper, declaring that the +luncheon still in his pouch would serve, and started just as the short +twilight came on. He was a brave lad, and, with no thought of peril, +went off, kissing his hand gayly to Esther. + +It took him an hour to traverse the first three miles, and then he +came to a stretch of comparatively bare ground leading through his +father's old clearing, and almost to the top of the hill back of Mr. +Devins's house. He was just urging old Bob into a trot, when a long, +clear howl broke upon his ear; then another and another answered +from east and south. He knew what that meant. It was the cry of the +advance-guard of a pack of wolves. + +The howling sounded near, and came swiftly nearer, as though the +wolves had found his tracks and scented their prey. Old Bob trembled +in every limb, and seemed powerless to move. Allan realized that he +could not, before dark, reach home through the drifts ahead, and the +increasing cold of the advancing night would render a refuge in a +tree-top probably as deadly as an encounter with the pack. + +Presently there came a cry, shriller and sharper than before, and +Allan, looking back, saw a great, lean, hungry gray wolf burst from +the underbrush into the road, followed by dozens more; and in a moment +the road behind him was full of wolves, open-mouthed and in keen +chase. Their yells now seemed notes of exultation, for the leader +of the pack--the strongest, fleetest, hungriest one among them--was +within a dozen yards of Allan, who was now riding faster than ever old +Bob had gone before or ever would go again. Excitement made the lad's +blood boil in his veins, and he determined to show fight. The moon had +risen, and the scene was almost as light as day. Now he could count +the crowding host of his enemies, and just as he broke from the forest +road into the old clearing, he turned in his saddle and fired. The +foremost of the pack rolled over and over; the rest gathered around +and tore their leader in pieces. + +By the time they resumed the chase, Allan was a hundred yards ahead +with his rifle loaded. He determined to make a running fight of it to +the hill, where he was sure of meeting his father, or could take to a +tree and shoot until help came. This had hardly flashed through his +brain when, right ahead of him, a detachment of the pack sprang into +the road and answered with double yells the cries of the rest coming +up behind. The horse wheeled suddenly, almost unseating Allan, and +dashed across the clearing toward the wood; but he had not taken a +dozen bounds when a wolf sprang upon him. Old Bob reared and fell, +pitching Allan nearly twenty feet ahead, and was covered with wolves +before he could regain his footing. That was the last of poor old Bob. + +[Illustration: "OLD BOB FELL, PITCHING ALLAN AHEAD."] + +But Allan! What of him? When he recovered from the effects of the +shock, he found himself over head and ears in snow. He had no idea +where he was, but struggled and plunged in vain endeavors to extricate +himself, until at last he broke into a space that was clear of snow, +but dark as Erebus, damp and close. Feeling about him he discovered +over his head logs resting slantingly against the upper edge of a pit, +and then he knew that he was in the cellar of the old house his father +had built, and which had been burned down nine years before! The +cellar was full of snow, except at the corner roofed over by the +fallen logs, and Allan, bursting through the snow into the empty +corner, was as secure from the wolves as though seated by his father's +fireside. It was not nearly as cold in there as outside, and he found +a dry spot upon which he lay down to think. + +He was in no danger of freezing to death, his food would keep him from +starvation a week at least, and Allan concluded that, with the first +glimpse of dawn, his father would be in search of him, and, following +the tracks, find old Bob's bones, and quickly rescue him from his +predicament. He reasoned wisely enough, but the elements were against +him. Before sunrise a furious storm of wind and snow had completely +obliterated every trace of horse, rider and wolves. + +At home, as the night wore on, the anxiety of the family had +increased. While they were watching the gathering storm, they heard +the long, dismal howl of the wolves coming over the hill. The chill of +fear that they should never see the boy again settled down upon all +their hearts, until the house was as dreary within as the winter waste +and gloomy forest were without. + +Meanwhile the brave youth was sound asleep, dreaming as peacefully as +though snugly resting with his brother in his warm bed at home. He +slumbered on unconscious of the raging storm without, and did not +awake until late the next forenoon. It took him several seconds +to realize where he was and how he came there, but gradually he +remembered his ride for life, the falling of his horse, his struggle +in the snow, and his breaking into the protected space where he lay. + +The storm lasted all day and far into the succeeding night. Allan ate +slightly, quenched his thirst with a few drops of water obtained by +melting snow in the palm of his hand, and began casting about for +means to get out. He soon found that to dig his way up through the +mass of snow that filled the cellar was beyond his powers. If he could +have made a succession of footholds, the task would have been easy; +but all his efforts only tended to fill his retreat, without bringing +him nearer the air. As soon as he saw this, he gave himself up to +calmly waiting for help from without. + +The second morning of his imprisonment broke clear and cheerful, and +Mr. Devins set out to search for traces of his boy. He visited the +Inmans' and learned the particulars of Allan's stay and departure, +then mournfully turned his face homeward, his heart filled with +despair. When he emerged from the forest into the clearing, he met the +Indian who had visited him a few days before, and he told the red man +of Allan's loss. The Indian stood a moment in deep thought, and then +asked: + +"No horse, no boy back there?" pointing to the road just traversed by +Mr. Devins. + +"No. I have looked carefully, and if there had been a trace left by +the recent storm I should have detected it." + +"Ugh! well, me come over the hill; nothing that way either; then they +here." + +"Why do you think so?" + +"Ah! me know wolves. When Allan come to this place they ahead; +horse turn; wolves caught 'em this side woods; we look there," and +Tayenathonto pointed to the very course taken by the horse and rider. + +It so happened when Allan was thrown from the horse's back that his +rifle flew from his hand and struck, muzzle down, in a hollow stump, +where, imbedded in the snow, it stood like a sign to mark the scene +of the last struggle of the lost boy. The snow had whitened all its +hither side. When the Indian came abreast of it, he cried: + +"Told you so! See! Allan's gun! And here rest of 'em," pointing to the +little heap over the ruins of the old cabin. + +Kicking the snow hastily aside, the Indian examined the ground +carefully a moment and then said: "No, only horse; Allan further on." + +The Indian, with head bent down, walked quickly forward, threw up +his arms, and disappeared. He had stepped over the clean edge of the +cellar and sunk exactly as Allan had. A few desperate plunges sufficed +to take the strong Indian through the intervening snow and into the +protected corner where Allan, just rousing from his second sleep, sat +bolt upright. The Indian's coming disturbed the snow so that a glimmer +of light penetrated into the dark space. Allan supposed a wolf had +found its way down there, and hastily drew his large knife, bracing +himself for an encounter. + +The Indian sputtered, thrashed about to clear himself from the snow, +and in so doing rapped his head smartly against the low ceiling of +logs. + +"Waugh! waugh!" exclaimed he. "Too much low; Indian break 'em head; +look out." + +Allan instantly recognized the voice of the Indian, his comrade on +many a fishing and hunting tour. + +"Tayenathonto!" he cried, "dear old fellow, who would have thought of +you finding me!" + +The Indian quietly replied: + +"Tayenathonto no find; come like water-fall; couldn't help his self." + +A very few minutes sufficed to put both on the surface again, where +Allan was received "like one come from the dead," and closely folded +in his father's arms. Oh, the joy of that embrace! The past grief and +suffering were forgotten in the bliss of that moment. + +The Indian had to return with the happy father and son to their home, +where he was hailed as Allan's rescuer, and enjoyed to the full a +share of the festivities. + +In after years Allan married Esther Inman, and now, by the fireside in +winter, he tells his grandchildren of his escape from the wolves, and +the little ones never tire of petting their faithful old Tayenathonto. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + + There was an old person of Crewd, + Who said, "We use saw-dust for food; + It's cheap by the ton, + And it nourishes one, + And that's the main object of food." + + + + +MOLLIE'S BOYHOOD. + +BY SARAH E. CHESTER. + + +A little girl sat squeezed in between an old fat man and his old bony +wife in a crowded hall on a sultry evening in October. On one side it +was as if feather pillows loomed above her with intent to smother; on +the other, sharp elbows came into distressing contact with her ribs. +The windows were open; but the hall had not been built with reference +to transmitting draughts on suffocating nights for the benefit of +packed audiences; and everybody gasped for breath, though everybody +fanned--that is, everybody who had a fan, a newspaper, a hat, or a +starched handkerchief. Mollie had neither fan, newspaper, hat, nor +handkerchief, and yet she of all the audience gasped unawares. She was +stifled, but happy. Elbows and bad air might do their worst; her body +suffered, but her spirit soared. She was lifted above her neighbors, +into an atmosphere where she was conscious of nothing but the +eloquence that fell in such soft tones from the lips of the beautiful +woman on the stage. + +Mollie was fatherless and brotherless. She had no male cousins within +a thousand miles. Her only uncle, two blocks off, was a man whose +dinners rebelled against digestion, and who might have been beyond +the seas for all the good he did her. They were a feminine +family,--Mollie, her mother, the old cat and her kittens +three,--bereft of masculine rule and care, and in need of money earned +by masculine hands. + +The mother bore losses and lacks with the philosophy of her age; but +Mollie's age was only twelve, and knew not philosophy. She realized +that she was a mistake. She was miserably aware that she was a mistake +which could never be corrected. Friends repeatedly assured her that it +was a great pity she had not been born a boy, and tantalized her with +boyhood's possibilities. Frequent mention was made of ways in which +she might minister to her mother's comfort if she were a son; and all +Mollie's day-dreams were visions of that gallant son's achievements. +She used to close her eyes and see wings and bay-windows growing +around their little cottage and making it a mansion; their old clothes +gliding away, and fine new robes stepping into their places; strong +servants working in the kitchen; pictures stealing up the walls, and +luxuries scattering themselves hither and thither, till she felt the +spirit of the boy within her, and seemed equal to the deeds he would +have done. Then she used to open her eyes wide to the fact of her +girlhood and have little seasons of despair. + +This had been going on a long time, the visions, their destruction +by facts, and the consequent despair; for, of course, she had always +believed there was nothing to be done. And now here was one telling +her that something could be done--that she, even she, the little girl +Mollie, had equal rights with boys, and that it was not only her +privilege but her duty to claim them. Here was one exhorting her to +throw off the yoke of her girlhood, talking of a glorious career that +might be hers, of emancipation and liberty, of a womanhood grand as +manhood itself. And how the tremendous sentiments, so beautifully +uttered, thrilled through Mollie from the crown of her hat to the toes +of her boots! She would have given worlds for one glance from that +bravest of her sex who had thrown off the yoke, and for a chance to +ask her just how she did it. For while Mollie had fully made up her +mind to wear her yoke no longer, she did not know exactly by what +means to become an emancipated creature. As she walked home with her +hand in that of the fat gentleman who had treated her to the lecture, +she reached the conclusion that no special instructions had been given +because it was taken for granted that each woman's nobler instincts +would guide her. She entered the gate a champion of freedom, a +believer in the equality of the sexes--a girl bound to be a boy, and +trusting to her nobler instincts to teach her how. + +No trembling and glancing back over her shoulder for goblins and +burglars to-night as she put the key into the door! No scared +chattering of teeth in the dark hall! No skipping three steps at a +time up the stairs pursued by imaginary hands that would grip at her +ankles! She faced the darkness with wide-open eyes, instead of feeling +her way with lids squeezed down as had been her custom; and when eyes +seemed to look back at her from the darkness, her boyhood laughed at +her girlhood, and she did not quicken her pace. But--Mollie was glad +to step into the room where the light burned. Her mother had gone to +bed early with one of her tired-out headaches, and she only half woke +to see that her little girl was safely in. Mollie kissed her softly +(for boys may kiss their mothers softly) and took the lamp into the +little room beyond, where she always slept. + +The first thing that she did was to look in the glass. What a girlish +little face it was! How foolishly its dimples came and went with its +smiles! In what an effeminate manner the hair crinkled above it, and +then went rambling off into half a yard of stylish disorder! Mollie +lifted the hair in her hand and surveyed it thoughtfully. Then she +took a thoughtful survey of the scissors in her work-basket. Then +she reached them. She allowed herself a moment of conscientious +reflection; then the boy's naughty spirit crept down through her +fingers and set the scissors flying, and the deed was done. + +It was not easy to satisfy her mother's amazement and vexation in the +morning; but Mollie stumbled through it and went to school. There +opportunities were few. She coaxed her teacher to let her study +book-keeping, and took one disagreeable lesson in its first +principles; but she accomplished nothing else that day except the +putting of a general check upon weak-minded inclinations to be +frolicsome. + +But that evening there was a fair sky, one of the soft, deep skies +that make imaginative little girls' brains dizzy; and Mollie tramped +down the gravel path to the gate and leaned over; then she soon +nestled her head in her arms and looked up and lost herself. Boyhood +was far from her dreamy fancies, when they were scattered by a tweak +at one of her cropped locks. + +"What does this mean?" asked the voice of the neighbor over the fence. +"How came it to be done without my leave?" + +"Don't I look manly, Mr. John?" said Mollie. + +"What does it mean?" said he, severely. + +"That would be telling," said Mollie. + +"I intend that you shall tell me," said he. + +"Oh, it's a secret!" said Mollie. + +"All the better; we'll keep it together. Tell it." + +He was a grown-up man, nearer thirty than twenty years old, who +stooped to take an interest in his neighbor's little girl, and +flattered himself that he was bringing her up in the way she should +go. It amused him in his leisure moments to try the experiment of +rearing a girl to be as unlike as possible the girl of the period. + +From mere force of habit, Mollie opened her mouth and poured out her +heart to him. He seemed quite impressed by the solemn confession. +Mollie studied his face closely while she was speaking, and saw +nothing but a grave and earnest interest in her project. She could not +see deep enough to discover the indignation that was fuming over the +loss of her pretty locks, and the purpose that was brewing to cure her +of her folly. + +"Don't have any half-way work about it, Mollie," said Mr. John. "Do +the thing thoroughly, if you undertake it." "Oh yes, indeed!" said +Mollie. + +"If you should need an occasional reminder, I will try and help you," +said he; "for of course it wont do to be off guard at all. But now get +your hat, and we'll go for some ice-cream. I know you need cooling off +this warm evening." + +Mollie skipped about to run toward the house. + +"Be careful of your steps," he called; and she tramped as boyishly as +she could. + +"No, don't take hold of my hand," as she came back and slipped her +fingers in his. "Put your hands in your pockets." + +"I've only one pocket," she answered meekly, putting her right hand in +it. + +"Difficulties at once, aren't there?" said Mr. John. "Your clothes +want reforming, you see. You'll have to put on Bloomers." + +"Oh!" said Mollie. + +"I'm afraid you're not very much in earnest," he said. "You surely are +not frightened by a trifle like that?" Mollie looked up imploringly. + +"Must I?" she asked. + +"Well," he answered, her earnestness making him fear that she would +actually appear publicly in masculine array, "I don't know that it is +necessary at present. A few days wont matter; and, after a while, it +will seem to you the natural way to dress." + +He was so faithful that evening in reminding her of her short-comings +that their _tête-à-tête_ over the little table in the ice-cream +saloon, which usually was so cosey and delightful, was quite spoiled. +She went to sleep regretting that she had taken Mr. John into her +confidence and made it necessary for him to treat her as a boy. + +She did not see him again for several days: and meanwhile she had +taken her lessons in book-keeping, practiced the writing hours on +heavy masculine strokes, learned to walk without dancing little +whirligigs on her tiptoes every other minute, and made some progress +in the art of whistling. She felt that she had done much to earn his +commendation, and was anxious for a meeting. + +On the way home from school, one afternoon, she saw his sister's baby +at the window--the roundest, fattest, whitest and sweetest of all the +babies that had taken up an abode in Mollie's heart, where babies +innumerable were enshrined. There it was, being danced in somebody's +hands before the window, and reaching out its ten dear little fingers +to beckon her in. + +She was quickly in, regardless of her gait. In a moment from the time +the tempting vision appeared she was cuddling it in her arms, glibly +talking the nonsense that it loved to hear, and kissing and petting it +to her heart's content. She was so absorbed that she did not hear Mr. +John come in; and he was close by her when she looked up and saw his +face--not the genial, welcoming look she had been in the habit of +meeting since he became her friend, but one of grave disapproval. + +"I am ashamed of you, Mollie," he said. "Boys of your age don't pet +babies in that way." + +Mollie dropped it--she hardly knew whether on the floor or the +stove--and flew. When she got home, she ran into the little back room +that used to be her play-room. She was all ready for a good cry, and +she closed the door. Then she thought, what if Mr. John were to see +her crying like a girl-baby!--and she marched to the window, and +through the dimness in her eyes tried to see something cheering. Her +nature was very social, and her need of companionship great at that +moment; so she turned to the friend who had been brother, sister and +child to her through most of her little girlhood--her big doll Helena, +who sat in a chair in the corner beholding her agitation with fixed, +compassionless gaze. + +"Come here, you dear," said Mollie, folding her tenderly in her arms +and finding comfort in the contact of her cold china cheek. She had +loved her so long that she had given her a soul; and to Mollie's heart +the doll was as fit for loving as if she had had breath and speech. +She did not play with her any longer, but Helena was still her dear +old friend--an almost human confidant and crony. + +As she held her closely, suddenly she thought of Mr. John. If he had +objected to the petting of babies, what would he say to dolls? She +gave her a frantic kiss, put her away, and turned her back on her +to reflect; for she did not mean to shirk the most disagreeable +reflections in the new line of duty she had chosen to follow. + +If it had really been a human friend whose destinies Mollie +considered, she could not have been more serious; and if it had been +a human friend whom she at last decided must be put far from her, she +could hardly have suffered severer heart-pangs. But she would have no +compromising with inclination in this matter. She would be brave and +strong, as it became her mother's son to be. So to the lowest depths +of the deepest trunk in the garret she mentally consigned Helena. +There, beyond the reach of her loving eyes and arms, she should lie in +banishment until her heart became callous. + +But there was something so repulsive in the idea of smothering human +Helena under layers of old garments, that Mollie finally thought of a +better way. Helena should no longer be Helena, dear to her heart in +all her little feminine adornings and her sympathetic, tender traits +of character. She should undergo a change; a radical reform. She, too, +should become a boy, and her name should be Thomas. Thenceforth Mollie +spent her leisure moments in manufacturing garments suitable for the +change; and at last she saw a boy-doll, in roundabout and pantaloons, +occupying the chair where Helena had so long sat in dainty dresses. +The sight was a perpetual offense to her eyes; but she bore it +bravely, keeping in store for herself a reward of merit in Mr. John's +approval. She did not fail to mention to him Helena's reform the +next time they met, which was one morning before breakfast. She was +sweeping the front steps when he came and leaned over the fence and +called her. + +She shouldered the broom, as she had seen men shoulder implements of +labor,--hoes, rakes, etc.,--and tramped toward him. Mr. John watched +her, with an expression of disgust under his mustache. + +"Well, Bob," he said, "I'm glad to see you out so early. Form good +habits before you're grown, and when you come to manhood you'll make +money by it. Where are your Bloomers to-day? It isn't possible your +mind's not made up to them yet?" + +There was something in Mr. John's tone and manner which did not seem +quite courteous to Mollie; but she had hardly hung her head when he +began to talk in his old half-fatherly, half-brotherly fashion; and +then, in the lively conversation, she found a chance to introduce +Thomas. Mr. John gave her a long, solemn, searching look. + +"Mollie," he said, "I am very much afraid you will never succeed as a +boy. It seems to me that even an ordinarily masculine girl of your +age would have been clear-headed enough to see the absurdity of your +little farce. It is nothing but a farce, mere babyishness. You have +been playing with yourself and with your doll. No boy could have done +it." + +There was a short pause; then Mollie's voice piped out into a humble +question as to what course a boy would have pursued in the matter. + +"Why, that is clear enough," said Mr. John. "If you want to do what a +boy would do, dispose of the doll on the shortest notice. Get it out +of your sight and mind as soon as possible, and then never give it any +more thought than you'd give the rattle you used to shake when you +were a baby, or the rubber ring you cut your teeth on." + +Could he be made to understand the immense difference between Helena +and other toys? Could any words explain to him about the soul that had +grown out of Mollie's love into the cloth and sawdust body? Mollie +looked up to catch a sympathetic expression that should help her to +tell him; but she did not find it. + +"You don't understand," she said desperately. + +"No?" said he. + +"Mr. John," said Mollie, not looking him in the eye, "when you have a +doll as long as I have had Helena, it is only natural that she should +seem to you like a live person. If I didn't play with her at all, +she'd seem real to me, and I shouldn't like to have her go away any +more than I would mother." + +"Which tells the secret that you have some sort of human fondness +for the lifeless bundle of rags," said Mr. John, "and proves what I +feared, that you are a very weak-minded little girl, Mollie." + +"You wont believe in me at all," said Mollie. + +"You wont think I am doing my best, and that I ever succeed. You are +not like you used to be." + +"That naturally follows _your_ being different," said Mr. John. "Of +course, we can't have the same feelings toward each other now as when +you were contented to be a little girl and to let me treat you as one. +I'm sorry you don't find me as agreeable as before, Mollie; but you +must acknowledge that I am acting as a friend in doing all that I can +to help you in your dear project." + +"It isn't dear!" burst forth Mollie, indignantly. "I hate it!--but +I'll never give it up!" + +"Of course not," Mr. John said. "Then I presume you are all ready to +part with Helena." + +"I'll go and get her," said Mollie. + +No one saw the parting in the play-room. It was quickly over, and she +was back by the fence. + +"Give her to Bessie," said Mollie, putting Helena and her wardrobe +into Mr. John's arms. Bessie was one of his many nieces. + +"To Bessie!" said he. "Where you can feel that she is away on a visit; +where you know that she will be petted and cared for; where you can +see her occasionally. If you are sincere in this matter, Mollie, send +her off where you can no longer care to think of her. Our ash-man +would be very glad to carry her home to his little girls." + +Mollie's hands made a wild dive toward Helena as a vision of the +little grimy man who crept into their areas for ashes rose before her. + +"Decide now," said Mr. John. "Take your doll and be Mollie Kelly +again, or be a boy and give her to the ash-man's children without a +pang." + +Mollie hung her head. There was color coming and going in her cheeks, +her fingers trembled,--how they longed to snatch Helena!--and her mind +was full of indecision. Mr. John watched her closely, and he thought +he saw the tide turning in favor of her girlhood. He held the doll +nearer that it might tempt her fingers; but, on the instant, she +turned and ran away. He tucked Helena under his coat and carried her +upstairs and locked her in a drawer, there to abide until Mollie +should want her again. + +That was a gloomy day to Mollie. She was out of humor with her +boyhood. She was ashamed of herself one moment for bewailing Helena, +and furious the next with Mr. John and the ash-man. She felt cross and +discouraged, and was glad when the darkness came, and she could go to +bed and sleep. But the next morning she was in no cheerier, braver +frame of mind; and she walked home at noon, considering plain sewing +_versus_ book-keeping as a means of subsistence. Mr. John would have +rejoiced if he could have seen his "little leaven" working. + +"The gutters on the roof are full of leaves, Mollie," said her mother +as she came in. "Stop on your way back to school and send Michael to +clean them out. I think we are going to have rain, and we don't want +them washed into the pipes." + +"How much will he charge, mother?" + +"About fifty cents." + +"That fifty cents shall buy something for you," said Mollie to +herself. "The boy of the family shall clean the roof." + +There was just enough recklessness in her mood to make her rather +enjoy than fear the prospect. She left her mother getting dinner, and +took a broom and escaped up the garret stairs and through the scuttle. +The roof did not slope steeply, and she let herself down with an easy +slide to the rear eaves. She rested her feet on the edge of the house +and swept as far as her arms would reach east and west. Then she +shifted her position and swept again until the whole length was clean. + +She heard her mother calling her to dinner, but she had the front +gutter yet to sweep, and, climbing up, went down on the other side. +There was a thought which gave zest to her work on that side,--Mr. +John would be coming home that way to dinner and would see her. +Besides, other people would see her, and no passer-by should say that +she did not do her work as thoroughly and fearlessly as any boy. She +had taken for granted that Mr. John's eyes would be drawn upward; but +when he had walked almost by, looking straight ahead, she sent him a +shrill call. He looked at the windows, around the yard, and even as +far up as the trees. + +"On the roof," screamed Mollie, and in her excitement she forgot her +situation and lost her balance and slipped,--not far, but one foot +went out beyond the eaves into the air. The other one rallied to the +rescue, supported her whole weight, and helped her to regain her +position. Danger was over in a moment, but it had been danger of +death, and Mollie's heart beat wildly, and a faintness came over her. +Still through it all she was able to see Mr. John's approving smile as +he lifted his hat and waved it gayly in applause. + +"He wouldn't care if I had fallen and been killed," thought Mollie, as +she recovered herself. "All he wants is to have me succeed in being a +horrid boy. I've a mind to give it up just to spite him." + +She could not know--so successfully had he concealed his agitation +under that bland smile--how faint he, too, had been in the moment of +her danger, nor how fast his heart was still beating as he walked on, +nor what resolves he was forming to put a speedy end to her boyhood. + +He stopped on his way back from dinner to tell her that he had engaged +to take a party of his nephews and nieces nutting that afternoon, and +that he wanted her to come. + +"It will be so nice to have a big boy on hand, Mollie," said Mr. John, +"especially one that isn't afraid of heights. We may have some to +climb." + +Not a word about her danger and his gladness for her safety, and she +knew he had seen her narrow escape. But she felt so gay over memories +of Mr. John's nutting parties, and the prospect of another, that she +forgave him all, and prepared to be thoroughly happy that afternoon. + +School closed at three o'clock, and Mollie flew to Mr. John's yard, +where they were all waiting. She came dancing by the gate, her cheeks +rosy, her eyes shining,--just her old self, as she had been in the +days when no boyhood loomed like an ugly shadow between her and Mr. +John. He saw it all, and charged himself to be stony. So he gave no +better response to her impulsive greeting than he would have given an +ordinary boy. Her spirits fell a degree; but with those happy children +bobbing around her, expecting her to be the happiest of all, they +could do nothing but rise again. + +Mr. John did not offer to lift her over fences as he lifted the other +girls; he even called on her to help the little ones over. He held +back branches that came across other girls' paths; he let her clear +her own way. He carried Kittie and Bessie, and Esther and Dora, over +the brook; he let her splash across on the stones with the boys. He +gallantly made cups and gave the other girls to drink; he suggested to +Mollie that she should scoop the water up in her hand, as he was doing +for his own use. + +She wished many a time before they came to the walnut-trees that she +had staid at home. She wished her boyhood's days were over, or had +never been. She couldn't bear Mr. John, and all the children noticed +that she moped, and asked her why. + +Well, there were no nuts when they got there, Mr. John had known there +wouldn't be. They should have come much earlier in the day to find +these trees full, and the next trees were too far away. So they +concluded to turn their nutting party into a picnic. They had a basket +of provisions, and Mr. John sent the big boys into the next lot to get +wood for a fire. Then came his grand opportunity for crushing Mollie. +He called her, and she ran to him gladly, ready to take him back to +her favor on his own terms. + +"Please, go and help the boys bring wood for our fire," he said. "They +have all gone but you." + +She went, but not without giving him a look that actually made him +blush for his rudeness. She went with the aspect of a tragedy queen, +and by the time she overtook the boys she had calmly made up her mind +to two things: never, never again to be friends with Mr. John, and to +give up her boyhood just to spite him. But one more temptation still +held her. There was a little cliff over in that next lot, stony and +steep, and high enough to make a leap which it was some credit to a +boy to achieve. The boys stood on the edge, measuring the distance +with experienced eyes and preparing to go over. + +Now Mollie as a girl had always been a very good jumper, so she +resolved at once to try the leap, and have the report of her valiant +deed carried back to Mr. John. She joined the boys, and seeing that +one after another went down safely, she soon asked for a turn. She was +gravely remonstrated with. She was overwhelmed with sage masculine +advice, but she swept her way clear and jumped--with all the +recklessness of her reckless mood. She knew well enough the backward +inclination proper for her head, what the relative positions of her +knees and chin should be, and if she had taken the least forethought +might have redeemed the declining reputation of her boyhood. The +knowledge flashed across her in her swift descent that her spine had +not preserved the proper perpendicular, and that she was coming down +wrong. Chin and knees knocked together as she fell in a heap on the +grass below. + +[Illustration: MOLLIE IS CARED FOR BY THE BOYS.] + +It was a caving in of skull, she thought, that made that horrible +crashing pain and that sent lightning dancing on a black background +before her eyes, then blinded her quite. Nothing but a general chaos +of skull and brain could make such terrible pain. She wondered if her +friends would be able to recognize one dear lineament in the jumble +of her features. She thought what a sad fate it was to die young. She +wondered how Mr. John would feel now! and then she found that light +dawned upon her and that she had an eye open. In a moment she +discovered that the sense of hearing, too, had not abandoned her; +for the boys had reached her by this time, and she heard Mr. John's +nephew, John, saying: + +"She's knocked her teeth through her lip, that's all. I did it once +when I jumped wrong and hit my chin on my knee. She'll soon be all +right." + +Two eyes open now, and she saw a bloody frock, and what seemed an army +of boys; for there was something still the matter with her vision +which caused it to multiply. + +"Boys, boys, nothing but boys!" thought Mollie, dropping her lids. +"Where did they all come from, I wonder? There must be a thousand. I +never want to see another. I wouldn't be one for the world. I wish +they'd go away." + +Then she felt some one bathing her face gently, and when the water had +refreshed her, she ventured another peep at the world. Boys around her +still; but she could see now that their number was only four, and the +faces those of friends. + +"Cheer up, Mollie," said John, jr. "You got a hard knock, but you're +coming on. Bob's gone for the phaeton, and we'll have you home in no +time." + +They propped her up against a tree, and continued to bathe her head +with water from Jerry's felt hat, filled at the little brook close by. + +All this while Mr. John had been accounting for their absence by +supposing that Mollie was taking some sort of revenge on him, and he +would permit none of the girls to go in search of the wanderers. Not +until Bob and the phaeton appeared did news of Mollie's valiant deed +reach him. Then he went to her at once, and saw her pale and bloody. + +But to display weakness now might be to lose all, reflected Mr. John; +so he kept back the words of sympathy that were on his lips as he +leaned down and offered to carry her to the phaeton. + +"I prefer to walk, thank you," said Mollie, her pride giving her +strength to rise and take the arm which John, jr., stood ready to +offer. However, Mr. John forcibly made an exchange, and, in spite of +Mollie, half led and half carried her to the road. + +"Don't be discouraged, Mollie," he said as he put her in, while Bob +was busy at the halter. "The next time you'll jump like a man." + +"That nonsense is all over, thank you," said Mollie, very loftily, +though not very clearly, because of her swollen lips. "Think what you +please of me," she mumbled. "It is all ended; and it might have ended +sooner, too, if I'd taken better advice." + +"With better advice it never would have ended, you contrary little +minx," said Mr. John to himself as she drove away. + +The doctor came and Mollie was ordered to bed; but even his opiate +did not make her sleep. It was soothing, indeed, to lie there in the +twilight with her hand in her mother's, and feel that she was her +little girl entirely, no more to be her boy while life should last. +And pleasant visions of a Gothic school-house, where she should some +day be mistress of sweet, rosy-cheeked children, rose gracefully on +the ruins of her manly aspirations. + +By and by the bell rang, and her mother brought a lamp, and a package +which Mollie sat up and opened. There, with a note pinned on the left +leg of her trousers and a box of Mollie's best-beloved candies clasped +on her jacket, lay Helena. + +"I have never been to the ash-man's house, Mother Mollie," said the +note. "I have been visiting Mr. John's cuffs and collars in the +bureau-drawer. I want my girls' clothes on to-morrow. I claim it as my +right. We all have our rights. Put me in dresses and take me home to +the play-room. You have your rights too, and I wouldn't let any one +tell me that I hadn't a right to be a girl. It is my opinion that +if you had been meant for a boy you would have been made one. Come, +mother, cuddle me up, and let's go to sleep and have sweet dreams, and +a blithe waking to girlhood in the morning, when we will make up with +Mr. John; for he sends these chocolate-creams to let you know that he +is sorry." + +"So we will, dear," said Mollie, tucking Helena's head under her chin. +"You were always wiser than your mother, child." + + + + +THE LARGEST VOLCANO IN THE WORLD + +BY SARAH COAN. + + +[Illustration: THE LAKE OF FIRE.] + + "Why, it isn't on the top of a mountain at all! What a humbug my + geography must have been!" + +So wrote a little fellow to a young friend in America. + +He was right. It isn't on the top of a mountain, though the +geographies do say, "A volcano is a mountain sending forth fire, smoke +and lava," and give the picture of a mountain smoking at the top. + +This volcano is nothing of the kind; but is a hideous, yawning black +pit at the bottom of a mountain, and big enough to stow away a large +city. + +Of course you want to know, first, where this wonder is. Get out the +map of the Western Hemisphere, put your finger on any of the lines +running north and south, through North America, and called meridians; +follow it south until you come to the Tropic of Cancer, running east +and west; then "left-about-face!" and, following the tropic, sail out +into the calm Pacific. After a voyage of about two thousand miles, +you'll run ashore on one of a group of islands marked Sandwich. We +will call them Hawaiian, for that is their true name. Not one of the +brown, native inhabitants would call them "Sandwich." An English +sailor gave them that name, out of compliment to a certain Lord +Sandwich. + +On the largest of these islands, Hawaii--pronounced "Ha-y-e"--is the +volcano, Kilauea, the largest volcano in the world. + +We have seen it a great many times, and that you may see it as clearly +as possible, you shall have a letter from the very spot. The letter +reads: + + "Here we are, a large party of us, looking into Kilauea, which is + nine miles in circumference, and a thousand feet below us--a pit + about seven times as deep as Niagara Falls are high. We came + to-day, on horseback, from Hilo, a ride of thirty miles. Hilo is a + beautiful sea-shore village, the largest on the island of Hawaii, + and from it all visitors to Kilauea make their start. + + + "The road over which we came is nothing but a bridle-path, and a + very rough one at that, traversing miles and miles of old lava + flows. We had almost ridden to the crater's brink before we + discovered, in the dim twilight, the awful abyss. + + "Before us is the immense pit which, in the day-time, shows only a + floor of black lava, looking as smooth as satin; and, miles away, + rising out of this floor, are a few slender columns of smoke. + + "At night, everything is changed; and you can't conceive of the + lurid, demoniacal effect. Each slender column of smoke becomes + a pillar of fire that rolls upward, throbbing as it moves, and + spreads itself out above the crater like an immense canopy, all + ablaze. + + "Ships a hundred miles from land see the glow, and we here, on the + precipice above, can read ordinary print by its lurid light. + + "No wonder the natives worshiped the volcano. They thought it the + home of a goddess, whom they named Pélé, and in times of unusual + activity believed her to be very angry with them. Then they came + in long processions, from the seashore villages, bringing pigs, + dogs, fowls, and sometimes human beings, for sacrifice. These they + threw into the crater, to appease her wrath. + + "A small berry, called the ohélo, grows on the banks of the pit, + and of these the natives never dared to eat until Pélé had first + had her share. Very polite, were they not? And if ever they + forgot their manners, I dare say she gave them a shaking up by an + earthquake, as a reminder. + + "Sandal-wood and strawberries grow all about here--and fleas, too! + wicked fleas, that bite voraciously, to keep themselves warm, I + think, for here, so far from Pélé's hearth, it is cold, and we sit + by a log fire of our own. + + "The day after our arrival we went into the crater, starting + immediately after an early breakfast. There is but one entrance, + a narrow ledge, formed by the gradual crumbling and falling in of + the precipice. Along this ledge we slipped and scrambled, making + the descent on foot--for no ridden animal has ever been able to + descend the trail. Holding on to bushes and snags when the path + was dangerously steep, we finally landed below on the black satin + floor of lava. + + "Satin! What had looked so smooth and tempting from a thousand + feet above, turned out to be a surface more troubled and uneven + than the ocean in the most violent storm. And that tiny thread + of smoke, toward which our faces were set, lay three miles + distant--three miles that were worse than nine on an ordinary + road. + + "How we worked that passage! up hill and down hill, over hard + pointed lava that cut through our shoes like knife blades; over + light, crumbled lava into which we sank up to our knees; over + hills of lava that were, themselves, covered with smaller hills; + into ravines and over steam-cracks, some of which we could jump + with the aid of our long poles, and some of which we had to find + our way around; steam-cracks whose depths we could not see, and + into which we thrust our walking-sticks, drawing them out charred + black or aflame; over lava so hot that we ran as rapidly and + lightly as possible, to prevent our shoes being scorched. + Three hours of this kind of work for the three miles, and + _Hale-mau-mau_, or 'House of Everlasting Fire,' lay spitting and + moaning at our feet! + + "A lake of boiling lava is what the column of smoke marked out to + us,--a pit within a pit,--a lake of raging lava fifty feet below + us, of which you have here the picture taken 'from life.' + + "It was so hot and suffocating on the brink of this lake that we + cut eye-holes in our pocket-handkerchiefs and wore them as masks. + Even then we had to run back every few moments for a breath of + fresher air, though we were on the windward side of the lake. The + gases on the leeward side would suffocate one instantly. Oh, the + glory! This Hale-mau-mau, whose fire never goes out, is a huge + lake of liquid lava, heaving with groans and thunderings that + cannot be described. Around its edge, as you see in the picture, + the red lava was spouting furiously. Now and then the center of + the lake cooled over, forming a thin crust of black lava, which, + suddenly cracking in a hundred directions, let the blood-red fluid + ooze up through the seams, looking like fiery snakes. + + "Look at the picture, and imagine these enormous slabs of cooled + lava slowly rising themselves on end, as if alive, and with + a stately motion plunging beneath the sea of fire, with an + indescribable roar. + + "For three hours we gazed, spell-bound, though it seemed but a few + moments: we were chained to the spot, as is every one else who + visits Kilauea. + + "The wind, as the jets rose in air, spun the molten drops of lava + into fine threads, which the natives call Pélé's hair, and very + like hair it is. + + "All this time, under our feet were rumblings and explosions that + made us start and run now and then, for fear of being blown up; + coming back again after each fright, unwilling to leave the spot. + + "Occasionally, the embankment of the lake cracked off and fell + in, being immediately devoured by the hungry flood. These ledges + around Hale-mau-mau are very dangerous to stand upon. A whole + family came near losing their lives on one. A loud report beneath + their feet and a sudden trembling of the crust made them run for + life; and hardly had they jumped the fissure that separated + the ledge on which they were standing from more solid + footing--separated life from death--than crash went the ledge into + the boiling lake! + + "Sometimes the lake boils over, like a pot of molasses, and then + you can dip up the liquid lava with a long pole. You get quite + a lump of it, and by quickly rolling it on the ground mold a + cylinder the size of the end of the pole, and about six inches + long. Or you can drop a coin into the lava to be imprisoned as it + cools. + + "A foreigner once imbedded a silver dollar in the hot lava, and + gave the specimen to a native; but he immediately threw it on the + ground, breaking the lava, of course, and liberating the dollar, + which he pocketed, exclaiming: 'Volcano plenty enough, but me not + get dollar every day.' + + "One of our party collected lava specimens from around + Hale-mau-mau, and tied them up in her pocket-handkerchief. Imagine + her astonishment on finding, later, they had burned through the + linen, and one by one dropped out. + + "Terrible as old Pélé is, she makes herself useful, and is an + excellent cook. She keeps a great many ovens heated for the use of + her guests, and no two at the same temperature, so that you may + select one of any heat you wish. In these ovens (steam-cracks) she + boils tea, coffee and eggs; or cooks omelets and meats. You wrap + the beef or chicken, or whatever meat you may wish to cook, in + leaves, and lay it in the steam-crack. Soon it is thoroughly + cooked, and deliciously, too. + + "She also keeps a tub of warm water always ready for bathers. + + "She doesn't mean to be laughed at, though, for doing this kind of + work, and doing it in an original kind of way. After she has given + you one or two sound shakings, which she generally does, you'll + have great respect for the old lady, and feel quite like taking + off your hat to her. With the shakings and the thunderings + under-foot, and now and then the opening of a long steam-crack, + she keeps her visitors quite in awe of her powers, though she is + probably several hundred years old. + + "Not far from the little hut where we sleep, close to the + precipice, is Pélé's great laboratory, where she makes sulphur. We + wear our straw hats to the sulphur banks, and she bleaches them + for us. + + "Well, this is a strange, strange land, old Pélé being only one of + its many curiosities. + + "I only hope you may all see the active old goddess before she + dies. She hasn't finished her work yet. Once in a while she runs + down to the shore, to bathe and look at the Pacific Ocean, and + when there she generally gives a new cape to Hawaii by running out + into the sea." + +Majestic old Pélé! Long may she live! + + + + +MAKING IT SKIP + +[Illustration] + + + "I'll make it skip!" + Cried Charley, seizing a bit of stone. + And, in a trice, from our Charley's hand, + With scarce a dip, + Over the water it danced alone, + While we were watching it from the land-- + Skip! skip! skip! + + "I'll make it skip!" + Now, somehow, that is our Charley's way: + He takes little troubles that vex one so, + Not worth a flip, + And makes them seem to frolic and play + Just by his way of making them go + Skip! skip! skip! + + + + + +THE WILLOW WAND. BY A.E.W. + + + I have a little brother, + And his name is Little Lewy; + His starry eyes are bright as flowers + And they are twice as dewy. + Sometimes the dew o'erflows them, + And trickles down his cheeks; + And then he cries so hard, you'd think + He wouldn't stop for weeks. + Then my other little brother, + A bough of willow bringing, + Drives all the dew-drops far away, + By waving it and singing: + +[Illustration] + + "One, two, free, fo', five, six, _seven_ tears! + You'll be as old as farver in forty sousand years. + Drate big men don't have tears, so let me wipe 'em dry; + In forty sousand years from now you'll never, never cry." + + This other little brother, + Whose name is Little Bert, + Frowns in a dreadful manner + Whenever he is hurt; + The wrinkles right above his nose + Look like the letter M, + He keeps them there so long, he must + Be very fond of them. + Then my little brother Lewy, + The branch of willow bringing, + Sends all the naughty frowns away, + By waving it and singing: + +[Illustration] + + "A, B, C, D, E, F, G; + How many wrinkles are there? One, two, three! + We'll send them all off quickly, or they'll climb up to your hair, + And then to-morrow morning you'll have lots of tangles there." + +[Illustration] + + Sometimes our little Lewy + Loses all his pretty smiles; + He says they're very far away; + At least a hundred miles. + He looks as sober as a judge, + As stately as a king, + As solemn as a parson and + As still as anything. + And then our little Bertie, + The witching willow bringing, + Sends all the smiles safe home again, + By waving it and singing: + + "I want to buy a smile, sir, if you have some about; + I'll draw this leaf across your lips, and that will bring them out. + And if you cannot spare me one, just let me take a half. + Oh, here they come and there they come, and now we'll have a laugh." + +[Illustration] + + On every "morrow morning," + This funny little Bertie + Doesn't want to have his face washed + Because it don't feel dirty; + He runs half-dressed 'way out-of-doors, + Safe hidden from our view; + We search and call, hunt up and down, + And don't know what to do, + Until we see our little Lu + The wand of willow bringing, + And leading Bertie back to us, + While all the time he's singing: + + "Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si. + You look like a very small heathen Chinee. + Get the sleep all washed off and hang it up to dry, + And then you'll look as fresh as if you'd just come from the sky." + + When all the stars are shining, + Each little sleepy-head + Is lying in a funny bunch + Within the little bed. + Their eyes are so wide open, + They stay awake so long, + They're calling me to tell to them + A story or a song. + So up the stairs again I come, + The magic willow bringing, + And wave it here and wave it there, + While o'er and o'er I'm singing: + + "Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep; + Sailing away on the dreamy deep; + Sister to watch you and angels to keep; + Sailing away and away and away, + Away on the d-r-e-a-m-y deep; + Sleep, sleep, s-l-e-e-p, sleep." + +[Illustration] + + + + + +THE STORY THAT WOULDN'T BE TOLD. + +BY LOUISE STOCKTON. + + +"Do tell me one more story; just _one_ more!" said the little boy. + +It certainly was getting late. The fire lighted the room, the shadows +danced in the corners. Down in the kitchen they were hurrying with the +dinner, and in a moment nurse would come in to take the boy to bed. +But all this made him want to stay. He was very comfortable in his +mamma's lap, and he was in no haste to go upstairs to Maggie and the +nursery. + +Then his mamma kissed him right on the tip of his little nose, and she +said: + +"But you must go to bed sometime." + +"Please, mamma dear," he said, pushing his curly head almost under her +arm, "just one little story." + +[Illustration: A SCENE IN THE STORY THAT WOULDN'T BE TOLD.] + +"Just one! You can choose it, but mind, a little one!" + +"You know what one I want. Of course about the giant Tancankeroareous, +and how he stole the slipper of the princess for a snuff-box, and how +the Prince Limberlocks climbed up a cherry-tree into the giant's room. +That is the story _I_ like!" + +"And it must be the 'amen story' to-night. Well: Once upon a time the +Princess Thistleblossom stood on one foot, while--" + +"No, no," interrupted The Story, "you need not tell _me_! Tell some +other story. I am tired of being said over and over. Every night, as +soon as your bed-time comes, and you are so sleepy that you don't want +to go to bed, you ask for me, and I have to be told. I am sick of it, +and I want to rest." + +"But I want you," said the boy. "I like you best of all my stories. +I like that part where the giant comes in and calls out 'PORTER!' in +such a loud voice that the gate shakes all the bolts loose." + +"I suppose you do like it," said The Story; "anybody would. I am a +very good story, and very fit to be told last, although I cannot +see why that is any reason for calling me the 'amen story.' That is +foolish, _I_ think! But at any rate, that is no reason for telling +me _every_ night. Let your mamma tell you Cock Robin, or Jack the +Giant-Killer. They are plenty good enough." + +"I don't want them," said the little boy, beginning to cry; "I want +_you!_ I wont go to sleep all night if mamma don't tell you." + +"_I_ don't care!" replied The Story; "you needn't cry for me. I've +made up my mind. You wont hear me to-night. That as as sure as your +name is Paul." + +And it was just as The Story said. There was no use in the boy's +crying, for off went The Story, and it was _not_ told that night; but +it is my private opinion that the boy did go to sleep after all. + + + + +POLLY: A BEFORE-CHRISTMAS STORY. + +BY HOPE LEDYARD. + +[Illustration] + +"Santa Claus!" exclaimed Ned, half mockingly. + +"Yes," insisted Mamie, "what's he going to bring you, Ned?" + +"I don't know, and I don't care much," he answered, "for there isn't +any Santa Claus." + +"Why, Ned!" cried Mamie, in astonishment. "Even my big brother Harry +believes in Santa Claus. He's coming home from school to-night, and +we're going to hang up our stockings." + +"Pshaw!" said Ned, "I must go home. Good-bye." + +Merry little Mamie stood in amazement, and then ran in-doors to her +mother with her perplexity. + +"Why, mother!" she cried, "Ned Huntley said there wasn't any Santa +Claus--and he was real cross about it, too." + +"Well, Mamie," said her mother, "I wouldn't take any notice of Ned's +being cross about Christmas-time. The Huntleys don't keep Christmas." + +"Don't keep Christmas!" exclaimed Mamie, astonished beyond measure. + +Seeing that her mother was busy, she took her doll, Helena Margaret +Constance Victorine, in her arms, and talked the matter over with her. + +"What do you think, my dear," said she, "they don't keep Christmas +at Ned Huntley's house! I don't know just what mother means by not +keeping it, for you know Santa Claus comes down the chimney, and so he +can get in during the night and leave Christmas there. Oh, yes, but +they don't keep it. They turn it out, I suppose, just like mother told +me they acted about the dear little baby Savior; they hadn't any room +for him, and I guess Mrs. Huntley hasn't any room to keep Christmas +in. I wonder what she does with the Christmas things Santa Claus +brings? I wonder if she throws 'em away? I mean to go and ask her;" +and putting her child carefully in its cradle, Mamie started. + +There was some truth in what Mrs. Gaston had told her little daughter; +the Huntleys did not keep Christmas in a loving, hearty way. They kept +it in so far that on this very afternoon Mrs. Huntley was busy making +the mince pies, dressing the turkey, and doing all she could to be +beforehand with the extra Christmas dinner. Mr. Huntley had just +stepped into the kitchen for a moment to say to his wife, "What have +you settled on for Ned's Christmas?" + +"I've bought him a pair of arctics--he needed 'em; and if you want to +spend more than common, you might get him half a dozen handkerchiefs." + +"Well, wife, I was thinking that perhaps"--the farmer tried to be +particular about his words, for Mrs. Huntley did not seem in a very +good humor--"I was remembering how you used to enjoy giving the young +ones candies and toys; so, perhaps--" + +"Now, Noah Huntley, I'm surprised at you! Buy candies and toys for a +great lumbering boy like Ned? Why, you must be crazy, man! The next +thing will be that you'll want a Christmas-tree yourself!" + +"Well, and it wouldn't be a bad idea," thought the father. "There's +my man, Fritz, he has been to the woods and cut a little tree for his +children, and he seems to get a heap of pleasure out of it. Ah! if +only little Polly had lived!" Strangely enough, the wife was thinking +the same thing, as she sliced and sifted and weighed. "If little Polly +had lived it would have been different, but we can't throw away money +on nonsense for Ned." + +A little red cloak flashed by the window, a little bright face, just +about the age of "our little Polly's," peeped in at the door, and +Mamie asked, "May I come in, Mrs. Huntley?" + +"Certainly, child. Here's a fresh cookie. I suppose you're full of +Christmas over at your house?" + +"Oh, yes, ma'am! And I'm so sorry you don't keep it. What's the +reason?" + +"Don't keep it! Why, we have a regular Christmas dinner as sure as +the 25th of December comes round, and Pa gives me a new dress, or +something that I need, and we give Ned a suit of clothes, or shoes, or +something that he needs." + +"Well," said Mamie, "but I like our way best. May I tell you how we +keep Christmas?" + +"Talk away. I can listen." + +"Well, you see, a good while before Christmas my mother begins to get +ready, and I often see her hide up something quick when I come in, and +then she laughs, and I think, 'Oh, yes, something's coming,' and then +mother takes me in her lap and tells me how Jesus is coming, and how +He did come. Do you know, Mrs. Huntley?" + +"You can tell me, child?" + +"You see, He came a long, long time ago as a little baby. Mamma says +that he began at the beginning, so that no little child could say, 'I +can't be like Jesus, for Jesus never was so little as me.' That first +birthday of His, there wasn't any room for Him at the tavern, and when +the dear little baby Jesus was sleepy, they laid Him right in a stable +manger, and the shepherds found Him lying there. Christmas is His +Birthday, and I suppose they give all the children presents because +Jesus loved little children, and then Santa Claus--Oh, Mrs. Huntley, +that's what I came about, and I 'most forgot! If you don't keep +Christmas--I mean as we do," she added, as Mrs. Huntley frowned, "and +if you don't use the things that Santa Claus leaves here, can't I come +over and get 'em? Only I'd rather Ned should have 'em." + +"Child alive! How your tongue runs! Here, now, take these cookies home +with you, I guess Ned's too busy to play with you." + +"Thank you, ma'am. And you'll remember about Santa Claus?" said little +Mamie, as she walked away with her cookies. + +Mrs. Huntley worked on for a few minutes longer, and then, leaving her +dishes, she went to her own room and opened a bureau drawer. There +lay a bright little dress and pretty white apron,--Polly's best +things,--the little clothes in which she used to look so lovely. There +were the last Christmas toys the mother had ever bought,--only a +little tin bank, a paper cornucopia, and a doll; but she remembered +that Christmas so well! Could it be that it was only three years ago? +How Polly had laughed and chattered over her stocking! And Ned,--now +that she thought about it,--she remembered that they bought him a pair +of skates that year. He had made a great time over those skates, and +had taken his little sister out to see him try to use them. Ned was +so loving and gentle in those days. And then the mother's heart +reproached her. Could she blame her boy because he seemed to care so +little for his parents and his home, when she had nursed her grief for +the loss of her baby-girl, and taken no pains to be bright or cheerful +with him? She thought how clearly Mamie had told the story of the +Savior's birthday. Could her boy, who was six years older, do as well? +He went to Sunday-school sometimes, but she had never talked with him +about Jesus--never since God took her Polly. And her eyes filled as +she shut the drawer. + +Mrs. Huntley went back to the kitchen, but the room seemed different +to her. Ned brought in the milk, and looked at his mother curiously +at hearing her say, "Thank you, Ned." Wonders would never end, Ned +thought, when, after tea, she said, "Father, it's a moonlight night; +couldn't you and I drive to the village? Ned will excuse our leaving +him alone." + +"Excuse!" When had his mother ever asked him to excuse her? And then, +as mother waited for the wagon to be got ready, she asked him to read +about the Savior's birth, and surely there were tears in her eyes as +father came in, just as Ned read, "And they came with haste and found +Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger." + +Mr. Huntley was bewildered, too. To start off for the village at seven +o'clock in the evening! When had such a thing happened? + +On the road Mrs. Huntley told her husband what Mamie had said to her, +and she added, "Perhaps, as I tell it, it don't seem much, but it made +me think of our Polly, and"--the woman's voice broke, and the father, +saddened too, said, comfortingly, "She's safe, my dear, in heaven." + +"Yes, father, but I'm thinking of the one that's left, for all I cried +a little. I guess you were near right about getting him something +nice. He's but a boy yet, and he'd think more of Christmas, and +perhaps of the child that was born on Christmas, if we show him that +Jesus has made our hearts a little more tender." + +What it cost that hard, reserved woman to say that, none knew, but I +think her husband felt dimly how she must have fought with herself, +and he was silent for some time. At last he said, with a tone of +gladness in his voice, "My dear, I'm glad to get him something. He's a +good boy, Ned is." + +What a pleasant time they had, and how they caught the spirit of +Christmas! They bought a sled and skates, a book or two, and candies, +and Mrs. Huntley found a jack-knife that was just the thing Ned +wanted. Then she said to her husband: + +"I'd like to buy something for Mamie. It will be nice to buy a girl's +present." + +Their hearts ached a little, as they chose a wonderful little wash-tub +and board, with a clothes-horse to match. How Polly's eyes would have +shone at these! + +Meantime, Ned mused over his mother's tears and her strangely kind +tones, and thought: "I wonder if she's going to be as good to me as +she was to Polly! I hated to hear Mamie talk about Santa Claus. Polly +used to talk just that way, and we did have such good times. I used to +get skates and things at Christmas, but now I get some handkerchiefs +or a lot of shirts! It makes me mad." Then Ned fell asleep, and so +the mother found him. She woke him gently and he went off to bed, +bewildered by more kind words. + +Morning dawned and Ned hurried down to light the fire in the kitchen, +but he went no further than the sitting-room. There was a sled,--a +splendid one,--a pair of skates, and books! He put his hands in his +pockets to take a long stare, and felt something strange in one of +them. Why! There was a beautiful knife! + +Mother came in and watched his face, but at sight of her the boy +fairly broke down. Laying his head on her shoulder, "It's like Polly +coming back," he said. + +And so it was, and so it continued to be. + + +[Illustration: BOGGS SHOULD NOT HAVE HAD HIS PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON +THANKSGIVING DAY, AND EATEN A HEARTY DINNER AFTERWARD.] + + + + +THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON'S SHOW. + +BY JENNIE A. OWEN. + + +"Aunt Jennie," said my little godson Willie, a few days ago, "wont +you go with us to see the Lord Mayor's show? There'll be thirteen +elephants and eight clowns, and an elephant picks a man up with his +trunk and holds him there. And then mamma's going to take me to +Sampson's. Do you know Sampson, Aunt Jennie?" + +"I know about Samson in the Bible, Willie." + +"Oh, not that one; our Sampson is a man in a shop in Oxford street, +and he makes such nice boys' clothes, and he's the master." + +I have just come home from the Sandwich Islands, where I have been +living; I spent a few years, too, in New Zealand and Tahiti, and so +have seen many wonderful things on the land and sea; but a Lord Mayor +going to be sworn in to his duties, attended by thirteen elephants and +a London crowd, would be a novelty to me. I thought, too, that certain +little boys and girls in the Sandwich Islands and the United States, +who also call me Aunt Jennie, would like to hear all about it. + +This has been an exciting week for the London children. The fifth of +November fell on Sunday, and Guy Fawkes had to wait till Monday to +make his appearance. All that day he was carried about the streets in +various shapes and forms, and the naughty, ignorant little boys, in +spite of enlightened school-board teaching, sang at our doors: + + "A ha'penny loaf to feed the Pope, + A penn'orth of cheese to choke him, + A pint of beer to wash it all down, + And a jolly good fire to burn him." + +"Oh, papa," said Willie, as he ran into the breakfast-room for +pennies, "aren't you glad you're a real man and not a pope?" + +At last the ninth, the Lord Mayor's day, came. It is also the Prince +of Wales' birthday, so the city would be very gay-looking with all the +flags flying. + +Alas! it was a dark, dull morning, and a heavy fog hung all over the +city. Alas for the gilt coaches, the steel armor and other braveries! +and then the elephants, how could they possibly feel their way all +round the city in a thick, yellow fog? But, happily, by eleven the +weather cleared, and the sun shone out brightly. Such a crowd as there +was at our railway dépôt! So many bonny, happy little children never +went on the same morning to the busy old town before. It was something +new for great elephants to be seen walking through the prosy business +streets. Once before, twenty-seven years ago, when Sir John Musgrave +was Lord Mayor, not only elephants, but camels, deer, negroes, +beehives, a ship in full sail, and Britannia seated on a car drawn by +six horses, had made part of the show; since then, however, no Lord +Mayor had been thoughtful enough of little and big children's pleasure +to order out such delightful things, and so this year everybody must +go. To quote from the _Daily News:_ + + "Since the reign of Henry III., when, by that monarch's gracious + act the Lord Mayor of London was permitted to present himself + before the Barons of Exchequer at Westminster instead of submitting + the citizens' choice for the king's personal approval, there has + been no Lord Mayor's show at which so great a concourse of + spectators assembled." + +We crowd into the cars and are soon in Cannon street. At the gates a +boy meets us with little books for sale, shouting, "Thirteen elephants +for a penny! the other boys'll only give you twelve, but I'll give you +thirteen. Sold again! Thirteen elephants for a penny!" This wonderful +book consists of a series of common gaudily colored pictures, supposed +to represent the procession, which has done service at the show +from time immemorial, but it is each year as welcome as ever to the +children who each have a penny to buy one. Through the streets we have +passing visions of pink silk stockings, canary-colored breeches, and +dark green coats and gold lace, also tri-colored rosettes as large as +saucers; and pass by shop-windows full of sweet, eager little faces, +in the place of hose, shirts, sewing-machines, etc. + +At last we arrive at our destination in Cheapside, where, through the +kindness of a friend, a window on the first floor of a large building +is waiting for us. How impatient we are until we hear the band of the +Grenadier Guards, which heads the procession. After this band and that +of the Royal London Militia, come the Worshipful Company of Loriners, +preceded by jolly watermen in blue and white striped jerseys and white +trousers, bearing banners; more watermen follow to relieve them; the +beadle of the company with his staff of office; the clerk in his +chariot; the wardens, wearing silk cloaks trimmed with sables, +in their carriages, and amongst them Sir John Bennett, the great +watch-maker in Cheapside, a charming-looking old gentleman with rosy +cheeks and profuse gray curls; his face lights up with smiles as the +shouts of "Bravo, Bennett," show how popular he is. + +Then comes a grand yellow coach, in which rides the Master of the +Company, attended by his chaplain. After the Loriners come the +Farriers, the band of the First Life Guards, banners, beadle and mace +clerk, wardens and master. After them the Broderers. As these pass +slowly along, an excitement is caused by the behavior of the horse of +a hussar, who is mounting guard. It does not like the proceedings at +all, and still less the greasy asphalt on which it stands, dances +round, backs into the Worshipful Master of Broderers' carriage, and +finally rears and falls, unseating its rider. The hussar is quite cool +and quiet, soon reseats himself, and rejects the offer of a fussy +little man in red to hold his horse. + +And now comes the Worshipful Company of Bakers, preceded by their +banner, with its good old motto, "Praise God for all." These are +really very jolly and well-favored looking companions, most of the +members bearing large bouquets of flowers. After them the Vintners' +Company, with the band of the Royal Artillery; ten Commissioners, +each bearing a shield; eight master porters in vintner's dress; the +Bargemaster in full uniform, and the Swan Uppers. These are men who +look after the swans belonging to the corporation of London, which +build their nests along the banks of the Thames, and they mark the +young swans each spring. + +The "Uppers" look very well in their dress, consisting of dark cloth +jackets slashed with white, blue and white striped jerseys and white +trousers. + +After this company had passed, a grand shout announced the coming of +the elephants. These, as some small boy has observed, are "curious +animals, with two tails--one before and one behind." First came a +number of large ones, with Mr. Sanger, their owner, who was mounted on +a curiously spotted horse. They were gorgeous with oriental trappings +and howdahs. On the foremost one rode a man representing a grand +Indian prince. He had a reddish mustache, wore spectacles, a +magnificent purple and white turban, and showy oriental costume. He +produced a great impression on the crowd. In other howdahs sat one, +two or three splendid Hindoos, whose dress was past description. Then +came several young elephants ridden by boys; one of these was seized +with a desire to lie down, and had to be vigorously roused; but, +on the whole, they behaved in a wonderfully correct and dignified +manner--now and then gracefully swinging round their trunks amongst +the sympathizing crowd, in search of refreshment. + +The elephants were escorted by equestrians in state costumes, and +followed by six knights in steel armor, with lances and pennons, +mounted on chargers. One of these "wouldn't go," and had to be dragged +on ignominiously by a policeman. Then the Epping Forest rangers came. +They were picturesquely dressed in green velvet coats, broad-brimmed +hats and long feathers. After these, trumpeters, under-sheriffs in +their state carriages, aldermen, the Recorder, more trumpeters, and +then a most gorgeous coach--with hammer-cloth of red and gold, men in +liveries too splendid to describe, and four fine horses--brings the +late lord mayor. The mounted band of household cavalry follows. These +really look splendid in crimson coats covered with gold embroidery and +velvet caps, riding handsome white horses. + +There is a stoppage just as they come up. They are rapturously greeted +by the crowd, and requested to "play up." The mayor's servants, in +state liveries, follow on foot. After them rides a very important +person, the city marshal, on horseback. The city trumpeters come now, +preceding the right honorable the lord mayor's most gorgeous gilt +coach, drawn by six horses. In it sits Sir Thomas White, supported by +his chaplain, and attended by his sword-bearer and the common crier. +An escort of the 21st Hussars brings up the rear. Policemen follow, +and after them a stray mail-cart, a butcher's boy with his tray; after +that, not just the deluge, but the crowd. + +"Oh, mamma!" says Willie, "the beefeaters didn't come! Nine of them +there are in my book, and a grand one going in front, blowing a +trumpet. And the man holding his thumb to his nose at the sheriffs; +and the policeman knocking a thief down with a staff! And the lord +mayor had no spectacles on. That's not fair! Do beefeaters eat lots of +beef, mamma?" + +"Oh, no," says Charlie, with a superior air, "they are only sideboard +chaps." + +Willie is still more puzzled, until he is told that in the olden time +servants so costumed used to stand by the sideboard, or buffet, as +it was called, at feasts, and so got the name of buffetiers, and by +degrees the name became changed into beefeaters, which was more easily +remembered by the people. + +[Illustration: THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON'S SHOW.] + +From our window we could not, of course, follow the procession on its +winding way, nor had we seen it start. On looking at the paper next +morning, we read that at first it was feared that the elephants had +failed to keep their appointment. It was almost time to set out, and +no elephants were to be seen. What must be done? The people ought not +to be cheated out of the best part of the show; and yet, on the other +hand, how undignified for a lord mayor to be kept waiting for thirteen +elephants! I am sorry to say the police were rather glad. They had +been very much afraid that the animals might prove troublesome during +so long and unusual a walk; or else, coming from a circus, might, at +any sudden pause, imagine themselves in the arena, and take it into +their grave heads to perform on two legs and terrify the horses, or +possibly annoy the lord mayor and his chaplain by putting their +long trunks into his coach. But, happily for us, the police were +disappointed. Such dignified creatures could not be expected to come +early and be kept waiting. + +Just at the right time they came leisurely up, and gravely taking +their proper place, marched on with their proverbial sagacity--waiting +outside Westminster Hall, whilst the lord mayor swore to do his +duty, as quietly as though they were at home--and afterward left the +procession at Blackfriars Bridge, to go to their own quarters and +eat their well-earned dinner. It is to be hoped that the lord mayor +ordered something specially good for them. + +The elephants having left, the **embassadors, her majesty's ministers of +state, the nobility, judges, and other persons of distinction, joined +the procession, and proceeded to feast with his lordship and the lady +mayoress at Guildhall. + +[*sic] + + * * * * * + + + + +MY GIRL + +BY JOHN S. ADAMS. + + + I. + + A little corner with its crib, + A little mug, a spoon, a bib, + A little tooth so pearly white, + A little rubber ring to bite. + + + II. + + A little plate all lettered round, + A little rattle to resound, + A little creeping--see! she stands! + A little step 'twixt outstretched hands. + + + III. + + A little doll with flaxen hair, + A little willow rocking-chair, + A little dress of richest hue, + A little pair of gaiters blue. + + + IV. + + A little school day after day, + A "little schoolma'am" to obey, + A little study--soon 'tis past, + A little graduate at last. + + + V. + + A little muff for winter weather, + A little jockey-hat and feather, + A little sack with funny pockets, + A little chain, a ring, and lockets. + + + VI. + + A little while to dance and bow, + A little escort homeward now, + A little party, somewhat late, + A little lingering at the gate. + + + VII. + + A little walk in leafy June, + A little talk while shines the moon, + A little reference to papa, + A little planning with mamma. + + + VIII. + + A little ceremony grave, + A little struggle to be brave, + A little cottage on a lawn, + A little kiss--my girl was gone! + + * * * * * + + + + +MARS, THE PLANET OF WAR. + +BY RICHARD A. PROCTOR. + + +Not long ago, the planet Jupiter came among the stars of our southern +evening skies. Those who noted down his track found that he first +advanced from west to east, then receded along a track near his +advancing one, then advanced again, still running on a track side by +side with his former advancing track, and so passed away from the +scene, toward the part of the sky where the sun's light prevents our +tracking him. + +That was a useful and rather easy first lesson about the motions of +the bodies called planets. + +We have now to consider a rather less simple case, but one a great +deal more interesting. Two planets intrude among our evening stars, +each following a looped track, but the tracks are unlike; the two +planets are unlike in appearance, and they are also very unlike in +reality. + +I hope many of my young readers have already found out for themselves +that these intrusive bodies have been wandering among our fixed stars. +I purposely said nothing about the visitors last August, so that those +who try to learn the star-groups from my maps may have had a chance of +discovering the two planets for themselves. If they have done so, they +have in fact repeated a discovery which was made many, many years ago. +Ages before astronomy began to be a science, men found out that some +of the stars move about among the rest, and they also noticed the kind +of path traveled in the sky by each of those moving bodies. It was +long, indeed, before they found out the kind of path traveled _really_ +by the planets. In fact, they supposed our earth to be fixed; and if +our earth were fixed, the paths of the planets about her as a center +would be twisted and tangled in the most perplexing way. So that folks +in those old times, seeing the planets making all manner of loops and +twistings round the sky, and supposing they made corresponding loops +and twistings in traveling round the earth, thought the planets were +living creatures, going round the earth to watch it and rule over it, +each according to his own fashion. So they worshiped the planets as +gods, counting seven of them, including the sun and moon. Some they +thought good to men, others evil. The two planets now twisting their +way along the southern skies were two of the evil sort, viz.: Mars, +called the Lesser Infortune, and Saturn, called the Greater Infortune. +In the old system of star-worship, Mars ruled over Tuesday, and Saturn +over Saturday,--the Sabbath of olden times,--a day which the Chaldean +and Egyptian astrologers regarded as the most unlucky in the whole +week. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1. THE PATHS OF MARS AND SATURN.] + +The actual paths traveled among the stars by these two planets, this +fall, are shown in Fig. 1. You will see how wildly the fiery Mars, the +planet of war, careers round his great loop, while old Saturn, "heavy, +dull, and slow" (as Armado says that lead is--the metal dedicated to +Saturn), plods slowly and wearily along. Between August 6 and October +1, Mars traversed his entire backward track,--Saturn, you notice, only +a small portion of his much smaller loop. On the sky, too, you will +see that while Mars shines with a fierce ruddy glow, well suited +to his warlike character, Saturn shines with a dull yellow light, +suggestive of the evil qualities which the astrologers of old assigned +to him. "My loking," says Saturn, in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," "is +the fader of pestilence: + + "Min ben also the maladies colde, + The derke treasons, and the costes olde; + Min is the drenching in the see so wan, + Min is the prison in the derke cote,[1] + Min is the strangel and hanging by the throte, + The murmure, and the cherles[2] rebelling, + The groyning and the prine empoysoning." + + [Footnote 1: _Dark or gloomy coast_. This line was amusingly + rendered, by the printer of my "Saturn and its System," in which I + quoted Chaucer's lines, "Mine is the prison, and the dirty coat."] + + [Footnote 2: _Churl's._ Notice this word. It is the same as the + word rendered _Charles's_ in the common English name for the + Dipper. One should always say Charles's Wain, not Charles' (as is + the way Tennyson does in the "May Queen ").] + +For the present, however, let us consider the planet Mars, leaving +slow Saturn to wait for us another month. + +It has always seemed to me one of the most useful lessons in astronomy +to follow the line by which, long ago, great discoveries were made. +Thus, if the young reader went out on every fine night and noted the +changing position of Mars, he traced out the track shown in Fig. 1. +He noted, also, that the planet, which shone at its brightest about +September 5, gradually grew less and less bright as it traveled off, +after rounding the station near October 5 (really on Oct. 7), toward +the east. He observed, then, that the seeming loop followed by the +planet was a real looped track (so far, at least, as our observer on +the earth was concerned). Fig. 2 shows the apparent shape of Mars's +loop, the dates corresponding to those shown in Fig. 1. Only it does +not lie flat, as shown on the paper, but must be supposed to lie +somewhat under the surface of the paper, as shown by the little +upright _a, b,_ which, indeed, gives the distance under the paper at +which the part of the loop is supposed to lie where lowest at _m_. The +other similar uprights at M_1, M_2, and M_3 show the depression at +these places. You perceive that the part M_1, M_2, lies higher than +the part M_2, M_3. If the loop were flat, and, like E, the earth, +were in the level of the paper, it would be seen edgewise, and the +advancing, receding, and advancing parts of the planet's course would +all lie on the same line upon the sky. But being thus out of the +level, we see through the loop, so to speak, and it has the seeming +shape shown in Fig. 1.[3] + + [Footnote 3: I must re-mention that though this explanation is + made as simple as I possibly can make it, so far as words are + concerned, the figures present the result of an exact geometrical + investigation. Every dot, for instance, in Fig. 2, has had its + place separately determined by me.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 2. ONE OF MARS'S LOOPS.] + +This is one loop, you will understand, out of an immense number which +Mars makes in journeying round the earth, regarded as fixed. He +retreats to a great distance, swoops inward again toward the earth, +making a loop as in Fig. 2, and retreating again. Then he comes +again, makes another swoop, and a loop on another side, and so on. +He behaves, in fact, like that "little quiver fellow," a right +martialist, no doubt, who, as Justice Shallow tells us, "would about +and about, and come you in, and come you in,--and away again would a +go, and again would a come." The loops are not all of the same size. +The one shown in Fig. 2 is one of the smallest. I have before me a +picture which I have made of all this planet's loops from 1875 to +1892, and it forms the most curiously intertwined set of curves you +can imagine,--rather pretty, though not regular, the loops on one side +being much larger than those on the other. I would show the picture +here, but it is too large. One of these days, it will be given in a +book I am going to write about Mars, who is quite important enough to +have a book all to himself. I want you, now, to understand me that +Mars really does travel in a most complicated path, when you consider +the earth as at rest. If a perfect picture of all his loopings and +twistings since astronomy began could be drawn,--even on a sheet of +paper as large as the floor of a room,--the curves would so interlace +that you would not be able to track them out, but be always leaving +the true track and getting upon one crossing it slightly aslant,--just +like the lines by which trains are made to run easily off one +track on to another. + +The unfortunate astronomers of old times, who had to explain, _if they +could_, this complicated behavior of Mars (and of other planets, too), +were quite beaten. The more carefully they made their observations, +the more peculiar the motions seemed. One astronomer gave up the work +in despair, just like that unfortunate Greek philosopher who, because +he could not understand the tides of the Euboean Sea, drowned +himself in it. So this astronomer, who was a king,--Alphonsus of +Portugal,--unable to unravel the loops of the planets, said, in his +wrath, that if he had been called on by the Creator to assign the +planets their paths, he would have managed the matter a great deal +better. The plates of the old astronomical books became more and more +confusing, and cost more and more labor, as astronomers continued to + + ... "Build, unbuild, contrive + To save appearances, to gird the sphere + With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er, + Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb." + +It was to the study of Mars, the wildest wanderer of all, that we owe +the removal of all these perplexities. The idea had occurred to the +great astronomer, Copernicus, that the complexities of the planets' +paths are not real, but are caused by the constant moving about of the +place from whence we watch the planets. If a fly at rest at the middle +of a clock face watched the ends of the two hands, they would seem to +go round him in circles; but if, instead, he was on the end of one of +the hands (and was not knocked off as the other passed), the end of +this other hand would not move round the fly in the same simple way. +When the two hands were together it would be near, when they were +opposite it would be far away, and, without entering into any +particular description of the way in which it would seem to move, you +can easily see that the motion would seem much more complicated +than if the fly watched it from the middle of the clock face. Now, +Copernicus _did_ enter into particulars, and showed by mathematical +reasoning that nearly all the peculiarities of the planets' motions +could be explained by supposing that the sun, not the earth, was the +body round which the planets move, and that they go round him nearly +in circles. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3. THE PATHS OF MARS, THE EARTH, VENUS, AND +MERCURY.] + +But Copernicus could not explain _all_ the motions. And Tycho Brahe, +another great astronomer, who did not believe at all in the new ideas +of Copernicus, made a number of observations on our near neighbor +Mars, to show that Copernicus was wrong. He gave these to Kepler, +another great astronomer, enjoining him to explain them in such a way +as to overthrow the Copernican ideas. But Kepler behaved like Balaam +the son of Beor; for, called on to curse (or at least to denounce) the +views of Copernicus, he altogether blessed them three times. First, +he found from the motions of Mars that the planets do not travel in +circles, but in ovals, very nearly circular in shape, but not having +the sun exactly at the center. Secondly, he discovered the law +according to which they move, now faster now slower, in their oval +paths; and thirdly, he found a law according to which the nearer +planets travel more quickly and the farther planets more slowly, +every distance having its own proper rate. These three laws of Kepler +constitute the Magna Charta of the solar system. + +Afterward, Newton showed _how_ it happens that the planets obey these +laws, but as his part of the work had no particular reference to Mars, +I say no more about it in this place. + +Here, in Fig. 3, are the real paths of Mars and the Earth, and also of +Venus and Mercury. No loops, you see, in any of them, simply because +we have set the sun in the middle. Set the earth in the middle, and +each planet would have its own set of loops, each set enormously +complicated, and all three sets mixed together in the most confusing +way. It is well to remember this when you see, as in many books of +astronomy, the old theory illustrated with a set of circles looking +almost as neat and compact as the set truly representing the modern +theory. For the idea is suggested by this simple picture of the old +theory that the theory itself was simple, whereas it had become so +confusing that not merely young learners, but the most profound +mathematicians, were baffled when they tried to unravel the motions of +the planets. + +I think the figure pretty well explains itself. All I need mention is, +that while the shape and position of each path is correctly shown, the +size of the sun at center is immensely exaggerated. A mere pin point, +but shining with star-like splendor, would properly represent him. +As for the figures of the earth and Mars, they are still more +tremendously out of proportion. The cross-breadth of the lines +representing these planets' tracks is _many times_ greater than the +breadth of either planet on the scale of the chart. + +On September 5 the earth and Mars came to the position shown at E and +M. You observe that they could not be much nearer. It is indeed very +seldom that Mars is so well placed for observation. His illuminated +face was turned toward the dark or night half of the earth, so that he +shone brightly in the sky at midnight, and can be well studied with +the telescope. + +When Galileo turned toward Mars the telescope with which he had +discovered the moons of Jupiter, the crescent form of Venus, and many +other wonders in the heavens, he was altogether disappointed. His +telescope was indeed too small to show any features of interest in +Mars, though the planet of war is much nearer to us than Jupiter. Mars +is but a small world. The diameter of the planet is about 4,400 miles, +that of our earth being nearly 8,000. Jupiter, though much farther +away, has an immense diameter of more than 80,000 miles to make +up, and much more than make up, for the effect of distance. With his +noble system of moons he appears a remarkable object even with a +small telescope, while Mars shows no feature of interest even with +telescopes of considerable size. + +It was not, then, till very powerful telescopes had been constructed +that astronomers learned what we now know about Mars.[4] + + [Footnote 4: See the "Moons of Mars" in "Letter Box" Department] + +It is found that his surface is divided into land and water, like the +surface of our own earth. But his seas and oceans are not nearly so +large compared with his continents and lands. You know that on our own +earth the water covers so much larger a surface than the land that +the great continents are in reality islands. Europe, Asia and Africa +together form one great island; North and South America another, not +quite so large; then come Australia, Greenland, Madagascar, and so +forth; all the lands being islands, larger or smaller. On the other +hand, except the Caspian Sea and the Sea of Aral, there are no large +seas entirely land-bound. In the case of Mars a very different state +of things prevails, as you will see from the three accompanying +pictures (hitherto unpublished), drawn by the famous English observer, +Dawes (called the Eagle-eyed). The third and best was drawn with +a telescope constructed by your famous optician, Alvan Clark, of +Cambridge, Massachusetts. The dark parts are the seas, the light parts +being land, or in some cases cloud or snow. But in these pictures most +of the lighter portions represent land; for they have been seen often +so shaped, whereas clouds, of course, would change in shape. + +The planet Mars, like our earth, turns on its axis, so that it has day +and night as we have. The length of its day is not very different from +that of our own day. Our earth turns once on its axis in ---- but +before reading on, try to complete this sentence for yourself. Every +one knows that the earth's turning on its axis produces day and night, +and nine persons out of ten, if asked how long the earth takes in +turning round her axis, will answer, 24 hours; and if asked how many +times she turns on her axis in a year, will say 365 times, or if +disposed to be very exact, "about 365-1/4 times." But neither answer +is correct. The earth turns on her axis about 366-1/4 times in each +year, and each turning occupies 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds and +1 tenth of a second. We, taking the ordinary day as the time of a +turning or rotation, lose count of one rotation each year. It is +necessary to mention this, in order that when I tell you how long the +day of Mars is, you may be able correctly to compare it with our own +day. Mars, then, turns on his axis in 24 hours 37 minutes 22 seconds +and 7 tenth-parts of a second. So that Mars requires 41 minutes 18 +seconds and 6-tenths of a second longer to turn his small body once +round than our earth requires to turn round her much larger body. The +common day of Mars is, however, only about 39 minutes longer than our +common day. + +Mars has a long year, taking no less than 687 of our days to complete +his circuit round the sun, so that his year lasts only about one month +and a half less than two of ours. + +[Illustration: APPEARANCE OF MARS, 1852, MARCH 23, 5 H. 45 M., +Greenwich Mean Time. Power of Telescope, 358; 6-1/3 inch object-glass] + +[Illustration: APPEARANCE OF MARS, 1852, FEBRUARY 3, 6 H. 50 M., +Greenwich Mean Time. Power of Telescope, 242 and 358 on 6-1/3 inch +object-glass.] + +[Illustration: APPEARANCE OF MARS, 1860, JULY 6, 11 H. 33 M., +Greenwich Mean Time. Power of Telescope, 201; 8-1/4 inch object-glass. +Planet very low, yet pretty distinct.] + +Like the earth, Mars has seasons, for his polar axis, like that of +the earth, is aslant, and at one part of his year brings his northern +regions more fully into sunlight, at which time summer prevails there +and winter in his southern regions; while at the opposite part of his +year his southern regions are turned more fully sunward and have their +summer, while winter prevails over his northern regions. + +Around his poles, as around the earth's, there are great masses of +ice, insomuch that it is very doubtful whether any inhabitants of Mars +have been able to penetrate to his poles, any more than Kane or Hayes +or Nares or Parry, despite their courage and endurance, have been +able to reach our northern pole, or Cook or Wilkes or James Ross our +antarctic pole. + +In the summer of either hemisphere of Mars, the north polar snows +become greatly reduced in extent, as is natural, while in winter +they reach to low latitudes, showing that in parts of the planet +corresponding to the United States, or mid-Europe, as to latitude, +bitter cold must prevail for several weeks in succession. + +The land regions of Mars can be distinguished from the seas by their +ruddy color, the seas being greenish. But here, perhaps, you will be +disposed to ask how astronomers can be sure that the greenish regions +are seas, the ruddy regions land, the white spots either snow or +cloud. Might not materials altogether unlike any we are acquainted +with exist upon that remote planet? + +The spectroscope answers this question in the clearest way. You +may remember what I told you in October, 1876, about Venus, how +astronomers have learned that the vapor of water exists in +her atmosphere. The same method has been applied, even more +satisfactorily, to the planet of war, and it has been found that he +also has his atmosphere at times laden with moisture. This being so, +it is clear we have not to do with a planet made of materials utterly +unlike those forming our earth. To suppose so, when we find that the +air of Mars, formed like our own (for if it contained other gases the +spectroscope would tell us), contains often large quantities of the +vapor of water, would be as absurd as to believe in the green cheese +theory of the moon, or in another equally preposterous, advanced +lately by an English artist--Mr. J.T. Brett--to the effect that the +atmosphere of Venus is formed of glass. + +There is another theory about Mars, certainly not so absurd as +either of those just named, but scarcely supported by evidence at +present--the idea, namely, advanced by a French astronomer, that the +ruddy color of the lands and seas of Mars is due to red trees and a +generally scarlet vegetation. Your poet Holmes refers to this in those +lines of his, "Star-clouds and Wind-clouds" (to my mind among the most +charming of his many charming poems): + + "The snows that glittered on the disc of Mars + Have melted, and the planet's fiery orb + Rolls in the crimson summer of its year." + +It is quite possible, of course, that such colors as are often seen +in American woods in the autumn-time may prevail in the forests and +vegetation of Mars during the fullness of the Martian summer. The fact +that during this season the planet looks ruddier than usual, in some +degree corresponds with this theory. But it is much better explained, +to my mind, by the greater clearness of the Martian air in the +summer-time. That would enable us to see the color of the soil better. +If our earth were looked at from Venus during the winter-time, the +snows covering large parts of her surface, and the clouds and mists +common in the winter months, would hide the tints of the surface, +whereas these would be very distinct in clear summer weather. + +I fear my own conclusion about Mars is that his present condition +is very desolate. I look on the ruddiness of tint to which I have +referred as one of the signs that the planet of war has long since +passed its prime. There are lands and seas in Mars, the vapor of water +is present in his air, clouds form, rains and snows fall upon his +surface, and doubtless brooks and rivers irrigate his soil, and carry +down the moisture collected on his wide continents to the seas whence +the clouds had originally been formed. But I do not think there is +much vegetation on Mars, or that many living creatures of the higher +types of Martian life as it once existed still remain. All that is +known about the planet tends to show that the time when it attained +that stage of planetary existence through which our earth is now +passing must be set millions of years, perhaps hundreds of millions of +years, ago. He has not yet, indeed, reached that airless and waterless +condition, that extremity of internal cold, or in fact that utter +unfitness to support any kind of life, which would seem to prevail +in the moon. The planet of war in some respects resembles a desolate +battle-field, and I fancy that there is not a single region of the +earth now inhabited by man which is not infinitely more comfortable as +an abode of life than the most favored regions of Mars at the present +time would be for creatures like ourselves. + +But there are other subjects besides astronomy that the readers of the +ST. NICHOLAS want to learn about. I do not wish you to have to say to +me what a little daughter of mine said the other day. She had asked me +several questions about the sun, and after I had answered them I went +on to tell her several things which she had not asked. She listened +patiently for quite a long time,--fully five minutes, I really +believe,--and then she said: "Don't you think, papa, that that's +enough about the sun? Come and play with us on the lawn." So, as it +was holiday time, we went and played in the sun, instead of talking +about him. + + * * * * * + + + + +A DOMESTIC TRAGEDY--IN TWO PARTS. + +[Illustration: PART I.] + + "MOTHER! from this moment, behold me, my own master! + Yes, madam, I am old enough. I mean just what I say." + +[Illustration: PART II.] + + AND, but for a sudden and unforeseen disaster, + The puppy might have kept his resolution to this day. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE STICKLEBACK BELL-RINGERS + +BY C. F. HOLDER. + + +A certain pond in the country was once peopled with a number of +turtles, frogs, and fishes which I came to consider my pets, and +which at last grew so tame that I fed them from my hands. Among them, +however, were four or five little sticklebacks that lived under the +shade of a big willow, and these were so quarrelsome that I generally +fed them apart from the rest. But sometimes all met, and then the +feast usually was ended by the death of a minnow. For, shocking to +say, whenever there was a dispute for the food, some one of the little +fishes was almost sure to be devoured by the hungry sticklebacks. + +These stickleback-and-minnow combats, after a while, came to be of +daily occurrence, and the reason for this was a singular one, which I +must explain. + +Under the willow shade, and from one of the branches, I had hung a +miniature "belfry," containing a tiny brass bell, and had led the +string into the water, letting it go down to a considerable depth. At +first, I tied bait at intervals upon the line, and the sticklebacks, +of course, seized upon it, and thus rang the bell. Generally the +ringing was done in a very grave and proper way, although sometimes, +when the bait was too tightly tied, the quick peals sounded like a +call to a fire. + +[Illustration] + +I kept up this system of baiting the string for about a week, until +I thought they understood it, and then replaced the worms by bits of +stone. As I expected, the next morning, as I looked through the grass +and down into the water, tinkle! tinkle! rang the bell, and I knew my +little friends were saying, "Good-morning!" and expected a breakfast. +You may be sure they got it. I put my hand down, and up they came, and +got one worm apiece; and as I raised my hand, down they rushed, and +away went the bell, in an uproarious peal, that must have startled the +whole neighborhood. I was quick to respond, and they soon learned to +ring the bell before coming to the surface; in fact, if they saw me +pass, I always heard their welcome greeting. But to return to the +minnows. + +I generally fed them first, about twenty feet up the bank; but one +morning I found one or two had followed me down to the residence of +the stickleback family. They met with a rude reception, however, and, +to avoid making trouble, the next day I went to the willow first. But +no sooner had the bell begun to ring, than I saw a lot of ripples +coming down, and in a second the two factions were in mortal combat. +The sticklebacks were fighting not only for breakfast, but for their +nests, which were near by; and they made sad work of the poor minnows, +who, though smart in some things, did not know when they were whipped, +and so kept up the fight, though losing one of their number nearly +every morning. The bell now and then rang violently, but I fear it was +only sounding an appeal from a voracious stickleback whose appetite +had got the better of his rage. + +So it went on every morning. The minnows had learned what the bell +meant, and though usually defeated in the fight, they in reality had +their betters as servants to ring the bell and call them to meals. +Finally, they succeeded, by force of great numbers, in driving away +their pugnacious little rivals, and the bell hung silent; for, strange +to say, they knew what the sound meant, but I could never teach them +to ring it, when they could rise and steal the worm from my hand +without. But I am inclined to think it was more laziness than +inability to learn, as they afterward picked up readily some much more +difficult tricks. I taught them to leap from the water into my hand, +and lie as if dead; and having arranged a slide of polished wood upon +the bank, by placing worms upon it I soon had them leaping out and +sliding down like so many boys coasting in the winter. That they +afterward did it for amusement I know, as I often watched them +unobserved when there was nothing to attract but the fun of sliding. +This kind of amusement is not uncommon with many other animals, +particularly seals, which delight in making "slides" on the icy +shores. + + + + + +[ILLUSTATION] + +THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH + +BY MRS. CLARA DOTY BATES. + + + Old Granny Cricket's rocking-chair, + Creakety-creak, creakety-creak!-- + Back and forth, and here and there, + Squeakety-squeak, squeakety-squeak!-- + On the hearth-stone, every night, + Rocks and rocks in the cheery light. + Little old woman, dressed in black, + With spindling arms and a crooked back, + She sits with a cap on her wise old head, + And her eyes are fixed on the embers red; + She does not sing, she does not speak, + But the rocking-chair goes creakety-creak! + + Cheerily sounds the rocking-chair, + Creakety-creak, creakety-creak!-- + While it swings in the firelight there, + Squeakety-squeak, squeakety-squeak! + Old Granny Cricket, rocking, rocking, + Knits and knits on a long black stocking. + No matter how swiftly her fingers fly, + She never can keep her family, + With their legs so long from foot to knee, + Stockinged as well as they ought to be; + That's why, at night, week after week, + Her rocking-chair goes squeakety-squeak! + + * * * * * + + + + +HOW I WEIGHED THE THANKSGIVING TURKEY. + +BY G. M. SHAW. + + +"Here, sir! Please take this bird around to Albro's, and see how much +it weighs." + +The idea! What would the folks over the way say, to see the +"professor" walking out with a big turkey under his arm? That was the +way the thing presented itself to the good-natured college-student +acting as private tutor in the family. But Mrs. Simpson, the portly +and practical housewife, had no such idea of the fitness of things. + +It was the day before Thanksgiving, and the farmer who had agreed to +supply her with a turkey had brought it, but had not weighed it, and, +of course, they could not agree on its weight, all of which ended in +the startling proposition with which we began. + +"Well, if you aint the laziest man--! Just as though it was going to +hurt you any to take this bird to the corner and back!" she went on, +as she saw me looking, apparently, for a hole to crawl into, but, in +reality, for the broom, which, when I found, I made use of in putting +into execution a plan I had formed for weighing the turkey at home. + +I hung the broom-handle to the gas-jet by a wire loop, and slid it +along in the loop until it balanced. By this time all were curious to +see what I was about. + +I then fixed a wire to the turkey's feet and hooked it so that it +would slide on the broom-handle. Next I got a flat-iron and fixed it +in the same way. When the broom was nicely balanced, I hung the turkey +on the broom end of the stick, two inches from the balancing loop. +Then I hung the flat-iron on the other side, and shoved it along until +it balanced the turkey. Next I measured the distances of the turkey +and flat-iron from the balancing loop, and found that the turkey hung +two inches and the flat-iron eight inches from the balancing loop. +That was all. I had found the weight of the turkey, and told them: +Twenty-four pounds. + +"Do you s'pose I'm going to believe all that tomfoolery? It doesn't +weigh more'n twenty, I know. Here, Maggie! Take this out and ask Albro +to weigh it for you." + +"I'm blamed if he hasn't hit it about right," said the farmer who had +brought the turkey. "How did you find out?" + +"Well, you see," said I, "the flat-iron has a figure 6 on it; that +shows that it weighs six pounds. Now, if the turkey had not weighed +more than the flat-iron they would have balanced each other at the +same distance from the balancing loop; but the turkey was the heavier, +so I had to move the flat-iron out further. At the same distance from +the loop as the turkey (two inches), the flat-iron pulled six pounds' +weight, and at every addition of that distance it would pull six +pounds more. Thus: at four inches it pulled twelve pounds; at six +inches, eighteen pounds; and at eight inches, twenty-four pounds. +At that distance it just balanced the turkey, thus proving that it +weighed----" + +"Well, Maggie, what does Albro say?" + +"Twenty-four poun', mum," replied Maggie, coming in. + +"Well, I give up," said Mrs. Simpson; and she did, and so do I--till +next time. + + + + + +NIMBLE JIM AND THE MAGIC MELON + +BY J. A. JUDSON. + + +Once upon a time, in a snug little cottage by a brook under a hill, +lived an old widow and her only child. She was a tidy, pleasant-faced +dame, was "Old Mother Growser;" and as to her boy, there wasn't a +brighter lad of his age in all the village. His real name was James, +but he had always been so spry and handy that when he was a little +bit of a chap the neighbors called him "Nimble Jim." At work in the +cottage garden, or at play on the village green, even at his books +and slate, he was ever the same industrious, active "Nimble Jim," and +always a comfort to his mother. + +His father had been the village cobbler, and when he died the folks +said: "Who'll mend our shoes now, and auld Jamie gone?" + +Then up sprang the boy, saying: "I'll mend them, now father's dead." + +The simple folks laughed at him. "Hoot! toot! lad," said they; "ye +canna mend shoes!" + +But he answered bravely: "Am I not fifteen years old, and e'en a'most +a mon? Haven't I all father's tools? Haven't I seen him do it day +after day ever since I was a wee boy? It's time I was doing something +besides jobbin' and runnin' and pretendin' to work! I may take to th' +auld bench, and e'en get my father's place among ye in time, so I be +good enough. Mother canna allus be a-spinnin', spinnin', spinnin'. The +poor old eyes are growing dim a'ready,"--and Jim gently stroked her +thin gray hair. + +"Ye're a brave darlin', and my own handy Nimble Jim," said the fond +mother, smilingly. + +"Ah, well, boy," the neighbors said, "be about it if ye will, for +there's no cobbler hereabout now, and the shoes must be mended. But +ye'll do the work fairly, mind, or we'll no' pay ye a penny!" + +"I'll try my best, and bide your good favor, neighbors," was Jim's +cheery answer. + +And so he succeeded to his father's old bench by the window, the +lap-stone and hammer and awl; and as he waxed his thread and stitched +away, singing the old songs, the country folks passing by would +listen, look at each other, smile and nod approvingly, or say: + +"Hark to that, friend! One might think auld Jamie back again, with the +whack o' the hammer and the blithe song, though the voice ben't so +crackit like as th' auld one." + +"Aye, it's a bit clearer, but no happier. Auld cobbler Jamie was a +merry soul," says one. + +"And the lad'll prove worthy his father, I warrant. Listen to the +turn of that song, now; I've heard Jamie singin' it many a day," says +another. + + "Whack! whack! thump-pet-ty crack! + In go the shoe-nails with many a smack. + Zu! zu! pull the thread through; + Soon will the shoe be, done, master, for you! + + "Nay! nay! there's nothin' to pay, + If it is not mended as good as I say. + I do my work honestly--that is the thing; + Then Jamie the cobbler's as good as the king!" + +And the folks passed on, or stopped to leave shoes to mend. + +Jim prospered in the old stall, and they called him "Nimble Jim, the +Cobbler," for soon he was fairly installed as cobbler to the whole +country-side. He was happy, and his old mother was happy, and proud, +too, of the success of her boy, who was the light of her home and the +joy of her heart. + +All day Jim worked away at his bench. Winter evenings he read his few +books by the firelight; in the cool of the summer days, or in the +early mornings, he busied himself in the little garden. His +vegetables were his pride, and for miles around no one had so trim a +garden-patch, or so many good things in it, as Nimble Jim. + +Only one kind of all his plants failed to come to anything,--his +melon-vines,--and these always failed. This began to grieve him +sorely, for he was fond of melons; and, besides, he thought if he +could only raise fine ones, he might sell them for a deal of money, +like gruff, rich old Farmer Hummidge. + +"Oh dear! my melons don't grow like other folkses. They don't come up +at all, or if they do they wither or spindle away," he said, losing +his temper, and tearing up some of the vines by the roots. Then he +went into the cottage, angrily, and began to pound away, driving in +big hob-nails. With the twilight, his mother called him to the simple +meal, but he was sullen and silent. + +"What be the matter with ye, my Nimble Jim?" asked the good dame, +cheerily. + +"Matter enough, mother! My melons wont grow; there's somethin' the +matter with them. Faith, I believe some imp has cast a spell over 'em. +I do, mother," quoth he, thumping the table with his fist until the +dishes rattled. + +"Softly, softly, boy! Where's thy good nature gone?" said Mother +Growser, staring at him in wonder. + +"It be well enough to say 'Softly, softly,'" said he, "and I don't +want to grieve ye, mother; but it's naught with me but hammer, stitch, +dig,--hammer, stitch, dig,--the day in, the day out, when I might be +raisin' fine melons and sellin' 'em for mints of gold in the great +city. Yea, mother, sellin' 'em e'en to the king and queen and all the +grand lords and ladies at the court, like old Farmer Hummidge." + +For almost the first time in his life Jim was unhappy. + +"I would you had your wish, Nimble Jim; but then we've a neat bit +garden besides the melons; and the home is snug, and you're a good boy +and the best o' cobblers. Can't you be happy with that, my lad?" + +But Nimble Jim shook his head, for the spirit of discontent had taken +possession of him. + +Now, for many days, Nimble Jim neglected his cobbling and let the +weeds grow in his garden, while he moodily watched his melons as they +withered away. Soon he came to idle about them in the evening, too, +until, one bright moonlight night, as he was grieving over the +wretched, scraggy vines, he heard a tiny, silvery voice quite near him +cry, tauntingly: + +"Hello, Nimble Jim! How are your melons?" + +Jim would have been very angry at such a question could he have seen +anybody to be angry with; but, though he looked and looked with all +his eyes, not a soul could he see. + +"Hello, Nimble Jim! How are your melons? Ha, ha, ha! Melons! melons! +Ha, ha, ha!" And the sweet little voice sang, in a merry, mocking +strain: + + "Nice sweet melons! + Round ripe melons! + Nimble Jim likes them, I know. + Mean sour melons, + Crooked green melons, + Nimble Jim only can grow! + +Ha, ha, ha! How are your melons, Nimble Jim?" + +[Illustration: The Elfin Queen] + +"Who are you? What are you? Where are you?" cried Jim, hardly knowing +whether to be angry, amused, or frightened. + +"You ask a good many questions at once, don't you?" said the silvery +voice. "_Who_ am I? _What_ am I? _Where_ am I? Eh! I'm the Queen of +the Elfs," said her tiny majesty, "and if you look sharply you'll see +where I am." + +Just then a moonbeam streaming through the trees overhead fell across +his path, and, dancing up and down on it, he saw the tiny elfin +queen,--a lovely little creature with long, bright, wavy hair, and +glittering garments fluttering in the breeze, wings like a butterfly, +a mischievous smile on her face, and in her hand a wee wand tipped +with a star. But the brightest thing about her was the twinkle that +played hide-and-seek in her eye. + +Nimble Jim took off his hat and made a low bow. + +"Now, what is all this about?--and why are you neglecting your work, +sir?" demanded she, sternly. + +Jim trembled beneath her royal gaze, little as she was, and replied +humbly: + +"May it please your majesty, I wish I'd some melon-seeds that'd grow +like magic. I am dead tired of being nothin' but a cobbler. I want +to be a melon-merchant, and raise the finest, largest melons ever +seen,--supply the whole kingdom with them, and grow to be as rich as +the king himself." + +"Oh, you do, do you?" she answered, laughing her merry little laugh, +and capering up and down the moonbeam. "Oh! quite a modest youth! +Well, I'll make a bargain with you; and if you will do something for +me, you shall have your wish," said the queen. + +Nimble Jim was about to pour out his gratitude, when she interrupted +him, saying: "Now, Nimble Jim, listen to me. Your wish is a foolish +one, and I warn you that if you gain it you will be sorry. Why will +you not be content as you are?" + +"Your majesty," replied the obstinate youth. "I _cannot_ be content as +I am." + +"Well, since you insist on having your own way, we'll make our +bargain. Here,"--and, sitting down on the moonbeam, she pulled off a +shoe,--"here, sir, I want you to mend my shoe. I tripped just now on +a rough place in this moonbeam. Mend the rip; show me you are a good +cobbler, and I promise that you shall have your wish." + +"But, your majesty," began Nimble Jim, taking the shoe, which was no +bigger than a bean, "I can't sew such a little shoe; my fingers are +----" + +"There, there! Stop! I'm a queen, and people don't say 'can't' or +'wont' to me, sir," interrupted her majesty, with much dignity. "Take +the shoe, and find a way to mend it. I will come for it to-morrow +night at this same place and hour," and off she went up the moonbeam, +half skipping, half flying, while Jim stood stupidly staring until +she had entirely disappeared. Then he began, slowly: "Well,--I--never +--in--all--my--life--saw--such--a----" + +He said no more, but went in, and sat up all night, thinking how and +where he could find needle and thread fine enough to do such a piece +of cobbling as this. About dawn a thought struck him. His mother +thought he had gone crazy when she saw him chasing bees and pulling +down spider-webs. Hours and hours he worked, and though his fingers +were big, they were nimble, like his name; so, by and by, with a +needle made of a bee's sting and thread drawn from a spider-web, he +sewed up the rip in her fairy majesty's dainty shoe. + +He hardly could wait for the hour of meeting, but went into the +garden, with the shoe in his hand, long before the time. At length, +the queen came sliding down the moonbeam, laughing and singing: + +"Hello, Nimble Jim! How are your melons?" + +But he was not angry now; he only laughed respectfully, made a +profound bow, and said: + +"May it please your majesty, I have mended your majesty's shoe." + +The merry little queen took it from him, looked at it closely, saying +to herself: "Humph! I didn't think he could, but he did,"--and, +turning to Jim, said, much more graciously than before: "I suppose you +think yourself quite a cobbler; and so you are--for a mortal. Since +you have done your work so well, I will do as I said. Now," she +continued, handing him a little package about as big as a baby's +thumb, "plant these melon-seeds, and----" + +"Are these little things melon seeds? They look too small," +interrupted Jim,--for he had made no ceremony, even in the queen's +presence, about peeping into the package,--and it must be confessed +that they were very small indeed. + +"Certainly they are, or I would not tell you so. They are the +magic melons of fairy-land. As I was about to say when you rudely +interrupted, plant----" + +"I beg your pardon, your majes----" + +[Illustration: "BEFORE NIMBLE JIM COULD GET BACK TO THE HOUSE, THE +YARD WAS FULL OF MELON-VINE."] + +"_Will_ you keep still? Was there _ever_ such a chatterbox!" said +she. "I say, plant these melon-seeds to-morrow at sunrise, and you +will have your wish, foolish boy." And, while Jim was thinking of +melons and wealth, she skipped away up the moonbeam, singing: + + "Nimble Jim is quite demented,-- + Wants to be a melon-king! + Silly mortal! not contented + With the riches home-joys bring! + Oh! ho! + Oh! ho! + He will be sorry to-morrow; + To-morrow will bring only sorrow." + +But Nimble Jim heeded her not. This night also he could not close his +eyes, and in the early morning he hastened to tell his mother their +good fortune. She looked grave, and said: + +"Ah, my lad! I'd rather you minded the cobbler's bench, nor trafficked +with fairies. I fear me they're uncanny folks to deal with." + +"Never fear, mother; we'll be rich yet, and I'll make you a queen +yourself, and then you need spin no more," said Jim, wild with hope +and excitement. + +"I don't mind the spinnin', my boy. I'd rather be----". + +Jim heard no more, for he dashed off at once to the garden to plant +his precious seeds just at sunrise. With furious energy, he tore up +all his old vines, flung them over the fence, and, after that, spaded +up the melon-bed with the greatest care. Then he opened the paper and +poured the magical seeds into his hand. + +There were only _four_--four wee seeds, each no bigger than a pin's +head! His first impulse was to fling them away in wrath, for he +thought such little things couldn't possibly make as big a fortune as +he wanted. But then he reflected, "Fairies are little, so I suppose +their seeds are little, too. I'll try them, anyhow." And with that he +put them in the ground and carefully covered them. + +In an instant, the ground burst open in four places, and up shot four +sturdy melon-vines, that grew east, west, north, south! + +Grew? No! they raced, they tore, they dashed through the country far +and wide! In no time, before Nimble Jim could get back to the house +door, the whole yard was full of melon-vine, and one great big melon, +bigger than the cottage itself, blocked the door-way. + +[Illustration: THE MAGIC MELON OVERRUNS THE COUNTRY.] + +"Oh! oh! oh!" roared Jim. "What _have_ I done? What _shall_ I do?" And +with his spade he cut a hole through the melon. It took him a whole +hour, and when he got into the house he found that his poor mother had +fainted from fright. + +And all the time the vine and melons kept growing--east, west, north, +south. + +Nimble Jim was frantic! + +But the vines didn't mind Jim. On they went, growing like mad, a mile +a minute, faster than any railroad train. The big arms filled up the +main roads; the smaller ones crammed themselves into the lanes and +by-paths, while the tendrils embraced the tall trees, the houses, and +the church steeples, and snarled up everything. The leaves grew +so large, thick and green that they covered the whole face of the +country, shutting out the sun from the fields so the crops couldn't +grow; and the whole kingdom became so dark from the awful shade of +Nimble Jim's magic melon-vine, that the people had to burn candles day +and night. + +It grew like mad. On! on! Stem, branch, leaf, tendril, fruit--on, on +it went! The melons grew--great, round, smooth, rich, ripe, juicy +melons, as big as houses--at the cross-roads, on the roads, in the +fields, filling barn-yards and door-yards so people and cattle +couldn't pass, or go in or out, till they had eaten their way through +the melons, or got ladders and climbed over, or dug trenches and +crawled under! On, on it went, surrounding the king's palaces and +choking up his forts! Down, down it grew into the brooks and rivers, +and out into the king's harbors, where the tendrils seized and wound +about his ships of war riding at anchor, and climbed up the masts, +while melons grew on the decks till the vessels sank to the bottom! +It choked up and drank up all the rivers and lakes in the kingdom, or +dammed them up so the waters overflowed the land, drowning people and +cattle, and sweeping away houses and barns! + +On, on it grew--melons, melons everywhere! Ruin and starvation stared +the nation in the face; while poor, poor Nimble Jim, hid within the +rind of the melon he had dug out, shivered, cried and bewailed his +folly. + +"I'll be killed! I'll be killed! The people will murder me!" he +shrieked. But no one of them all save his mother knew he had had +anything to do with bringing on the dire calamity that had befallen +the kingdom. + +Then some of the people proposed: "Let us go immediately to our king, +and ask him to make a law that the vine shall stop growing ere it ruin +us forever." + +But when they had eaten and hewed their way to the palace, they found +the king had gone to count his soldiers; and while he was gone the +vine came galloping along, and an enormous melon grew and blocked up +the palace gate. So they had to help the king and his guards force +their way through to the hall of audience. + +When they all were in, and the king had wiped the melon-juice off his +robes and crown, and was fairly seated on his throne, surrounded by +his guards and courtiers, the trumpets sounded, drums beat, banners +waved, and the people fell on their knees and said: + +"O mighty king! We, thy liege subjects, have come to tell thee of the +ruin and desolation this fearful vine maketh in all thy great kingdom, +and to entreat thy majesty to enact a law forbidding it to grow any +more, and commanding it to wither away." + +"Alas!" answered the troubled king, "what can I do? No law of mine can +stop this awful thing. It is an enchanted vine sent to torment us. +Hear me, my people! Proclaim it, ye my heralds! I pledge my kingly +word to give up my crown and kingdom, and change places with any one +of my subjects who will wither and instantly sweep away this direful +vine. I, your king, am as helpless as a child to stop it." + +And the king, who was a good old man, shed tears for the misery of his +people, and commanded the queen and all the court to dress themselves +in mourning and fast night and day. + +The people got home as best they could, and each fell to thinking how +he could stop the vine and so be king. Even Nimble Jim heard of this. +So, every night, he watched, hoping to see the elfin queen. At last +she came, as before, on her moonbeam footpath, saying: "Hello, Nimble +Jim! How are your melons by this time?" + +But he was in no mood to be facetious now. He only said, humbly: + +"May it please your majesty, what can I do to stop the growth of this +horrible vine, and instantly sweep it from the face of the earth? Help +me, I beg your gracious majesty!"--and Jim knelt before her. + +"Ha, ha! Nimble Jim don't seem to like melons! I told you you'd be +sorry," laughed the little elfin queen. "I suppose you still want +to be as rich as the king? Or perhaps you would like to be the king +himself?" said she, tauntingly. + +"Of course I would, your majesty," said Jim, "if the vine can only be +stopped." + +"You are a very good cobbler, Nimble Jim," she answered, "and since +you mended my shoe so nicely, and as the king has promised to exchange +with any one who will wither and destroy the vine, and as you might as +well be king as another (and as you need a good lesson," said she to +herself), "I give you the means to do it all!" + +And the tiny queen pulled off the mended shoe, and cried: "Here, you +silly boy! Take this and run to the palace. Once there, you need touch +but a tendril with this magic shoe, and the vine will wither and +disappear, and the crown and kingdom will be yours. I wish you joy of +both. Good-bye! You will learn contentment yet, poor Jim, I hope," she +added, as he ran out of hearing, with the precious little shoe in his +hand. + +Leaving his poor mother behind, for he had forgotten all about her +during these days, Jim set off for the palace. It was a long, hard +journey, on account of the melon-vines, that not only blocked the +road, but even chased him. Many a narrow escape had he from being +crushed to death in the embrace of some young tendril that would shoot +out, wriggling and writhing toward him like a great green serpent. + +At length, he arrived at the palace gate, which in old times was +marble, but now was only a hole that had been cut through a melon. + +"Halt! Who goes there!" shouted a sentinel, thrusting his spear in +front of Jim's panting breast. + +"It's only Nimble Jim, the Cobbler. I want to see the king," said the +boy. + +"Be off, you fellow!" shouted the sentry. "Our noble king don't +hob-nob with cobblers! Be off, I say, or----" And he shook his spear +at our hero ominously. + +"Hold, there!" shouted the king himself, straining out of a window to +look between the melon-leaves. "Hold, I say! What do you want, young +cobbler?" + +"I want your crown and kingdom, sire," boldly answered Jim. "I've +heard of the new law, and I'll stop the melon-vine." + +"Let him pass, guards," shouted the king; "and send him hither." + +A little page dressed in black led Jim to the throne-room. The king +and his court no longer blazed in gold and jewels. Black covered +everybody and everything, even the golden throne itself, and grief and +dismay were on all faces. + +Then said the king, in a hollow tone: "What know you of this vine? +Speak!" + +And Jim, tremblingly, told the whole story. + +"Wicked boy!" groaned the king. "You well deserve punishment for the +ruin you have brought on the land. But I have passed my royal word, +and you shall try to destroy the vine. If you succeed, bad as you are, +you then will be the king and I the cobbler. But if you fail, you +shall be put where you shall have nothing but melons to eat for the +rest of your days. Guards, take him away!" + +That night, before the king and queen and all the assembled court, +when the moon was fairly risen, Nimble Jim touched with the toe of the +magic shoe the end of a tendril that was running rapidly up a tower. + +In an instant, every vestige of the vine vanished throughout all the +palace grounds; and in the morning the people all over the country +shouted for joy and cried with one voice: "Let us all go up to the +coronation, for to-day we have a new king who has delivered us from +the horrible vine." + +And on they came, in hordes, till the capital was full and the country +about the palace was one vast camp, while throughout the kingdom not a +trace of the vine was to be seen. + +Then the nobles and prelates prepared for the coronation. It was +magnificent. They girt Jim with the sword of state, clothed him in the +imperial robes, placed the scepter in his hand, and, as the golden +crown descended upon his head, all the people shouted: + +"Hail, King Nimblejimble, our deliverer! Long live the king!" + +[Illustration: MAKING AN ENTRANCE FOR THE KING THROUGH THE MELON IN +FRONT OF THE PALACE GATE.] + +And the silly boy was happy. + +Meanwhile, the poor, faithful old king, who cheerfully had given up +all for his people, was hammering and stitching and digging away on +Jim's cobbler-bench off in the village; and Jim's mother, whom the +naughty boy, in his strange elevation, had forgotten all about, +tenderly cared for the humbled old monarch. + +Before long, the elfin queen saw how patient the old king and Jim's +mother were, and how badly Nimble Jim was behaving now he was king, +for he was given up to all sorts of wickedness and tyranny, was fast +becoming hated by every one, and himself was beginning to see that he +was not nearly so happy as he had been while he was a cobbler. + +Jim was really good at heart, only his unreasonable discontent with +his lot had got him into all this misery. At last, he began to repent, +and, one moonlight night when he was walking alone on the palace +terrace, he said: + +"I wish I could see that little elfin queen, and I would ask her to +let me go back home again." + +"Well, here I am!" said the silvery voice; and, sitting on a moonbeam +beside him, there she was. "Tired of being king, Jim?" she asked. + +"Yes, your majesty, indeed I am," he replied. + +"Want any more melons, Jim?" said she, laughing. + +"No, no, no!" groaned Jim. "No more!" + +"How is your mother, Jim?" asked her majesty. + +"Alas! I don't know,"--and he hung his head in shame. + +"Are you ready to go and see her, Jim?" she asked, gently. "And will +you be contented now?" + +"Yes, yes!" was his eager reply. + +Now, the old king had been mending shoes all day, and was at this +moment resting in the cottage porch, when, suddenly, he was whisked +away on a cloud and landed in his palace again. His crown was popped +on his head, and the scepter thrust in his hand, while his old +chamberlain tenderly tucked him up in bed. + +At the same instant, another cloud brought back Nimble Jim to his +bench and his faithful mother, who at once made him some oat-meal +porridge without a murmur or word of reproach. + +"There!" said the elfin queen to herself. "That boy is cured of his +silly notions." + +"Mother, I think I don't care much for melons. I wont plant any more," +said Jim next morning. + +"I don't like 'em myself, lad," said the mother. "I'd a deal rather +you'd stick to the bench, like your auld father." + +"I will, mother dear," answered Nimble Jim. And he is mending shoes +there to this day, as happy as happy can be. + + * * * * * + + + + +[Illustration] + + "Oh! I'm my mamma's lady-girl + And I must sit quite still; + It would not do to jump and whirl, + And get my hair all out of curl, + And rumple up my frill. + No, I'm my mamma's lady-girl, + So I must sit quite still." + + * * * * * + + + + +A BUDGET OF HOME-MADE CHRISTMAS GIFTS. + + + +HINTS FOR GIRLS AND BOYS, LITTLE AND BIG.[1] + + [Footnote 1: The present paper will enable our young friends to + make over seventy different articles for Christmas gifts. While a + few familiar things may be found among them, a great majority of + the objects are entirely novel, and are here described for the + first time. All who may wish for still further hints in regard + to home-made Christmas presents will find very many useful + suggestions in the paper "One Hundred Christmas Presents, and How + to Make Them," published in ST. NICHOLAS for December, 1875--Vol. + III.] + + +[Illustration: W] + +Who is it that every year invents the thousand-and-one new and pretty +things which hang on Christmas-trees, and stuff the toes of Christmas +stockings? Who is it that has so wise and watchful an eye for the +capacities of little people, and the tastes of bigger ones, providing +for each, planning for tiny purses with almost nothing in them, as +well as for fat wallets stuffed with bank-bills, and suggesting +something which can be made, accepted and enjoyed by everybody, large +and small, all the wide world over? Who can it be that possesses +this inexhaustible fertility of invention and kindness of heart? No +ordinary human being, you may be sure. Not Father Santa Claus! He +has enough to do with distributing the presents after they are made; +besides, fancy-work is not in a man's line,--not even a saint's! But +what so likely as that he should have a mate, and that it is to her we +are indebted for all this? What an immense work-basket Mother Santa +Claus's must be! What a glancing thimble and swift needle and thread! +Can't you imagine her throwing aside her scissors and spool-bag to +help the dear saint "tackle up" and load the sledge? And who knows but +she sits behind as he drives over the roofs of the universe on the +blessed eve, and holds the reins while Santa Claus dispenses to +favored chimneys the innumerable pretty things which he and she have +chuckled over together months and months before the rest of us knew +anything about them? + +This is not a fact. It can't be proved in any way, for none of us +knows anything about the Santa Clauses or their abode. There is no +telegraphing, or writing to the selectmen of their town to inquire +about them; they haven't even a post-office address. But admitting it +to be a fiction, it is surely a pleasant one; so, as the children say, +"Let's play that it is true," and proceed to see what Mother Santa +Claus has in her basket for us this year. We will first pull out some +easy things for the benefit of little beginners who are not yet up to +all the tricks of the needle; then some a little harder for the more +advanced class; and, at bottom of all, big girls not afraid to dive +will find plenty of elaborate designs suited to their taste and +powers. + +Here, to begin with, is something nice for papa's pocket: + + +A POSTAGE-STAMP HOLDER. + +Cut two pieces of perforated board, or of stiff morocco, two inches +long by one and a half wide, and stitch them together, leaving one +end open. If you choose the board, a little border in cat-stitch or +feather-stitch should be worked before putting the pieces together, +and, if you like, an initial in the middle of one side. If the morocco +is chosen, an initial in colored silk will be pretty, and the edges +should be bound with narrow ribbon, and over-handed together. + +Cut two other pieces of the material a quarter of an inch smaller than +the first. Bind the morocco with ribbon. Make a fastening at one end +with a ribbon loop; place the stamps between the two, and slip the +little envelope thus filled into the outer case, the open end down. It +fits so snugly that it will not fall out in the pocket, and is easily +drawn forth by means of the loop when papa wants to get at his stamps. + +[Illustration: A POSTAGE-STAMP HOLDER.] + +A letter-case for papa's other pocket: This can be made either of +morocco, oiled silk, or rubber cloth. Cut an envelope-shaped piece, +about an inch larger all round than an ordinary letter envelope. Bind +the edges, work an initial on one side, and for a fastening use a loop +of elastic braid. + + +SAND-BAGS FOR WINDOWS. + +These are capital presents for grandmammas whose windows rattle in +winter weather and let cold air in between the sashes. You must +measure the window, and cut in stout cotton cloth a bag just as long +as the sash is wide, and about four inches across. Stitch this all +round, leaving one end open, and stuff it firmly with fine, dry sand. +Sew up the open end, and slip the bag into an outer case of bright +scarlet flannel, made just a trifle larger than the inner one, so that +it may go in easily. Lay the sand-bag over the crack between the two +sashes, and on cold nights, when you are asleep, grandmamma will +rejoice in the little giver of such a comfortable bulwark against the +wind. + + +RACK FOR TOOTH-BRUSHES, IN RUSTIC-WORK. + +This is very simple, but it is pretty as well. Cut two straight spruce +twigs, each having two or three little branches projecting upward at +an angle of forty-five degrees. These twigs must be as much alike in +shape as possible. Place them six inches apart; lay two cross-twigs +across, as you see them in the picture, and tie the corners with fine +wire, or fasten them with tiny pins. Two diagonal braces will add to +the strength of the rack. Hang it to the wall above the wash-stand by +a wire or ribbon. The tooth-brushes rest on the parallel branches. + +[Illustration: A RACK FOR TOOTH-BRUSHES.] + +For further particulars concerning spruce-wood work, see ST. NICHOLAS, +Vol. III., pp. 114 and 115. + + +MINIATURE HANGING-SHELVES. + +[Illustration: MINIATURE HANGING-SHELVES.] + +Boys who have learned to use their pocket-knives skillfully may make a +very pretty set of hanging-shelves by taking three bits of thin wood +(the sides of a cigar-box, for instance), well smoothed and oiled, +boring a hole in each corner, and suspending them with cords, run in, +and knotted underneath each shelf as in the picture. The wood should +be about eight inches long by three wide, and the shelves, small as +they are, will be found convenient for holding many little articles. + + +PAPER-CUTTERS. + +Another idea for these graduates of the knife is this falchion-shaped +paper-cutter. It can be made of any sort of hard-wood, neatly cut out, +rubbed smooth with sand-paper, and oiled or varnished. It has the +advantage that the materials cost almost nothing. Suggestions for more +elaborate articles in wood will be given further on. + +[Illustration: A FALCHION-SHAPED PAPER-CUTTER.] + + +A WALL LETTER-HOLDER. + +This is something which quite a little boy could make. Cut out three +pieces of thin wood, a foot long by six inches wide; smooth and +sand-paper two of them, bore a hole in each corner and in the middle +of one side, and fasten them together with fine wire, cord, ribbon, +or the small brass pins which are used for holding manuscripts. The +pieces should be held a little apart. Cut one end of the third piece +into some ornamental shape, glue it firmly to the back of one of the +others, and suspend it from the wall by a hole bored in the top. It +will be found a useful thing to hold letters or pamphlets. A clever +boy could make this much handsomer by cutting a pattern over the +front, or an initial, or monogram, or name in the middle. The wood +should be oiled or shellacked. + +[Illustration: A WALL LETTER-HOLDER FOR PAPA.] + + +SHOE-CASES. + +These cases are meant to take the place of paper when shoes are to be +wrapped up to go in a trunk. They are made of brown crash, bound with +red worsted braid. One end is pointed so as to turn over and button +down, or the top has strings over the braid to tie the mouth up. There +should be three or four made at a time, as each holds but one pair of +shoes; and you will find that mamma or your unmarried aunts will like +them very much. + +[Illustration: A SHOE-CASE FOR TRAVELING.] + + +SKATE-BAGS. + +A nice present for a skating boy--and what boy does not skate?--is a +bag made much after the pattern of the shoe-case just described, +only larger and wider, and of stouter material. Water-proof cloth or +cassimere is best. Sew it very strongly, and attach a string of wide +braid, or a strong elastic strap, that the bag may be swung over +the shoulders. A big initial letter cut out in red flannel and +button-holed on will make a pretty effect. + + +A SCALLOP-SHELL ALBUM. + +Young folks who are fortunate enough to have a pair of good-sized +scallop-shells (picked up, perhaps, at the sea-side during the last +summer vacation), can make a very pretty little autograph album in +this way: + +[Illustration: A SCALLOP-SHELL ALBUM.] + +Take a pair of well-mated scallop-shells. Clean them with brush and +soap. When dry, paint them with the white of egg to bring out the +colors, and let them dry again. Now insert between the shells a dozen +or more pages of writing-paper, cut of the same shape and size as the +shells, and very neatly scalloped around the edges. Then secure the +whole loosely, as shown in the picture, by means of a narrow ribbon +passed through two holes previously bored in the shells. Of course, +holes also must be pierced in the sheets of paper to correspond with +those in the shells. + + +A LITTLE NUN. + +This droll figure is cut out in black and white paper. Fastened at the +end of a wide ribbon, it would make an odd and pretty book-mark. The +black paper should be dull black, though the glossy will answer if +no other can be procured. Fig. 1 of the diagrams is cut in white, a +rosary and cross being put in with pen and ink, and is folded in the +middle by the dotted lines, the head and arms being afterward folded +over, as indicated. Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are cut in black and pasted +into place, leaving a narrow white border to the bonnet, a mite +of white band at the end of the sleeve, and a suggestion of snowy +stocking above the shoe. Fig. 6, cut double, forms a book, which can +be pasted to look as if held in the hand. + +[Illustration: A LITTLE NUN.] + + +BEAN-BAG CASES. + +Are there any of you who do not know the game of bean-bags? It is +capital exercise for rainy days, besides being very good fun, and we +would advise all of you who are not familiar with it to make a set at +once. Usually, there are four bags to a set, but any number of persons +from two to eight can play at bean-bags. Each player holds two, +flinging to his opponent the one in his right hand, and rapidly +shifting the one in his left to the right, so as to leave the left +hand free to catch the bag which is thrown at him. A set of these bags +would be a nice present for some of you little girls to make for your +small brothers; and there are various ways of ornamenting the bags +gayly and prettily. The real bags must first be made of stout ticking, +over-handed strongly all round, and filled (not too full) with white +baking-beans. Over these are drawn covers of flannel, blue or scarlet, +and you can work an initial in white letters or braid on each, or make +each of the four bags of a different color--yellow, blue, red, green; +anything but black, which is hard to follow with the eye, or white, +which soils too soon to be desirable. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAMS FOR MAKING THE LITTLE NUN.] + + +BABY'S SHOES IN CASHMERE. + +Babies who can't walk are particularly hard on their shoes! We once +heard of one who "wore out" nine pairs in two months! In these +circumstances, it seems very desirable to have a home shoe-maker, and +not have to frequent the shops too often; so we will tell you of an +easy kind, which almost any little sister can make. You must take an +old morocco shoe which fits, and cut out the shape in paper, first +the sole, and then the upper. Then cut the same shape in merino or +cashmere, line the little sole with Canton flannel or silk, and bind +it with very narrow ribbon. Line and bind the upper in the same way, +and feather-stitch round the top and down both sides of the opening in +front; sew on two ends of ribbon to tie round the ankle, and the shoe +is done. It will look very pretty on baby's pink foot, and he will +thank you for your gift in his own way, by kicking his toes joyfully, +and getting the shoes into his mouth as soon as possible. + + +A HEMLOCK PILLOW. + +It is rather late in the year to make these pillows, but you can try +them for next Christmas. They must be prepared for beforehand by +gathering and drying a quantity of the needles of the hemlock, the +fine ones from the ends of the young shrubs being the best. Make a +large square bag of cotton, stuff it full of the needles, and inclose +it in an outer case of soft thick silk or woolen stuff. The one from +which we take our description had "Rêve du forêt" embroidered on it in +dull yellow floss, and we don't believe any one could help dreaming +of the forest who laid a cheek on the pillow and smelled the mingled +spice and sweetness of its aromatic contents. + + +SACHETS FOR LINEN-CLOSETS. + +If you have any old-fashioned lavender growing in your garden, you can +easily make a delightful sachet for mamma to lay among her sheets and +pillow-cases in the linen-closet, by cutting a square bag of tarletane +or Swiss muslin, made as tastefully as you please, and stuffing it +full of the flowers. Another delightful scent is the _mellilotte_, or +sweet clover, which grows wild in many parts of the country, and has, +when dried, a fragrance like that of the tonquin-bean, only more +delicate. + + +TISSUE-PAPER MATS. + +[Illustration: A TISSUE-PAPER MAT.] + +We like to be able to tell you about these mats, for they cost almost +nothing at all, and are so simple that any little boy or girl can +make them. All the material needed for them is three sheets of +tissue-paper,--a light shade, a medium shade, and a dark shade, or, if +you like, they can also be made of one solid color, but are not quite +so pretty then. Cut a piece of each color nine inches square, fold it +across, and then across again, so as to form a small square, and then +fold from point to point. Lay on it a pattern, like the first diagram +on next page, and cut the tissue paper according to the lines of the +pattern. Opening the paper, you will find it a circle, with the edge +pointed in scallops. Now take a common hair-pin, bend its points over +that they may not tear the paper, slip it in turn over each point, as +shown in the diagram, and draw it down, _crinkling_ the paper into a +sort of double scallop. (The second diagram on next page will explain +this process.) Treat your three rounds in this way, lay them over each +other like a pile of plates, stick a small pin in the middle to hold +them, set a goblet upon them, and gently arrange the crinkled edges +about its base, so as to give a full ruffled effect, like the +petals of a dahlia, although less stiff and regular. These mats are +exceedingly pretty. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM FOR PAPER MAT, SHOWING MODE OF FOLDING AND +SHAPING.] + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MANNER OF CRIMPING EACH SCALLOP OF +THE PAPER MAT OVER A HAIR-PIN.] + + +A WORK BASKET IN VANILLA GRASS. + +If any of you live where the sweet-scented vanilla grass grows +plentifully, you can make a delicious little basket by drying the long +wiry blades, braiding them in strands of three, tying the ends firmly +together to make a long braid, and coiling and sewing as in straw +plaiting. Two circles the size of a dessert plate should be prepared, +one for the bottom of the basket, and the other for the top of the lid +(the latter a trifle the larger). Then draw the braid tighter, and +form a rim to each about two inches deep. The lid, which is separate, +fits over the bottom, and the scent of the grass will impart itself to +everything kept in the basket. + +So much for the dear little people. Our next dip into Mother Santa +Claus's basket brings out a big handful for girls (and boys) who are a +trifle older,--say from twelve to fifteen. + + +HAIR-PIN HOLDERS. + +On the next page is a picture of the hair-pin holder when finished; +and above it you will find a diagram of it when cut out and not yet +put in shape. It is cut, as you will observe, in one piece. The +material is perforated card-board, either white or "silver." The +dotted lines show where to fold it. + +A, A and B, B are lapped outside the end pieces, D, D, and held in +place by stitches of worsted, long below and very short above, where +the sides join. A little border is worked in worsted at top and bottom +before the sides are joined. The inside is stuffed with curled hair, +and topped with a little cover crocheted or knit in worsted--plain +ribbing or the tufted crochet, just as you prefer. A cord and a small +worsted tassel at either end complete it, and it is a convenient +little thing to hang or stand on mamma's or sister's toilet-table. It +will be an easy matter to enlarge the pattern, if this hair-pin holder +would be too small. + +[Illustration: PATTERN OF HAIR-PIN HOLDER.] + +[Illustration: A HAIR-PIN HOLDER.] + +[Illustration: END OF HAIR-PIN HOLDER WHEN FOLDED.] + + +A CRIB-BLANKET FOR BABY. + +The prettiest and simplest crib-blanket which we have seen of late, +was made of thick white flannel, a yard wide, and a yard and a quarter +long. Across each end were basted two rows of scarlet worsted braid, +four inches apart, and between the two a row of bright yellow braid. +These were cat-stitched down on both edges with black worsted, and +between them were rows of feather-stitching in blue. Above, in each +corner, was a small wheel made of rows of feather-stitch--black, red, +yellow and blue. Nothing could be easier to make, but the effect was +extremely gay and bright, and we advise some of you who are lucky +enough to "belong to a baby" to try it. + + +ANOTHER BABY'S BLANKET. + +For this you must buy a real blanket--one of the small ones which come +for use in a baby's crib. Those with blue stripes and a narrow binding +of blue silk are prettiest for the purpose. Baste a narrow strip of +canvas between the stripes and the binding, and with blue saddler's +silk doubled, work in cross-stitch a motto, so arranged that it can be +read when the top of the blanket is folded back. If the stripe is red +instead of blue, the motto must be in red silk, and it should, of +course, have reference to the baby. Here are some pretty ones in +various languages: "_Nun guten ruh, die augen zu_" (Now go to sleep, +and shut your eyes). "_Cap-à-pie_" (From head to foot). "_Ad ogni +ucello, suo nido è bello_" (To every bird its own nest is beautiful). +And here is one in English: + + "Shut little eyes, and shut in the blue; + Sleep, little baby, God loves you." + +The same idea can be beautifully applied to a pair of large blankets, +but this is rather a considerable gift for young people to undertake. + + +SUMMER BLANKETS. + +A pair of thin summer blankets, of the kind which are scarcely heavier +than flannel, can be made very pretty by button-holing them all round +loosely with double zephyr wool in large scallops, and working three +large initials in the middle of the top end. + + +A WORK-BASKET FOR "SISTER." + +For this, you must buy a straw basket, flat in shape, and without a +handle. It can be round, square, oval, or eight-sided, just as you +prefer. You must also buy a yard of silk or cashmere in some pretty +color. Line the whole basket, first of all cutting the shape of the +bottom exactly, and fastening the lining down with deft stitches, +which shall show neither inside nor out. Make four little pockets +of the stuff (six if the basket is large), draw their tops up with +elastic cord, and fasten them round the sides at equal distances. +These are to hold spools of silk, tapes, hooks-and-eyes, and such +small wares, which are always getting into disorder in a pocketless +basket. Between two of the pockets on one side, suspend a small square +pincushion, and on the other a flat needle-book hung by a loop of +ribbon. At the opposite ends, between the pockets, fasten an emery bag +and a sheath of morocco bound with ribbon to hold a pair of scissors. +Finish the top last of all with a quilling of ribbon, and you have as +dainty and complete a gift as any younger sister can wish to make, or +any older one receive. It will cost time and pains, but is pretty and +useful enough to repay both. + + +A FANCY WHEELBARROW. + +This cannot be made easily by any boy or girl who is not already +acquainted with fancy wood-sawing, and to such the illustration gives +all the hint that will be needed. We would simply suggest that the +body of this barrow is about six inches long, that it is lined with +crimson silk, and that standing upon a dressing-bureau, writing-table, +or mantel-shelf, it makes a very pretty receiver of cards or +knick-knacks. Many beautiful Christmas gifts can be made by boys or +girls owning one of the little bracket-saws, which, with books of +directions, can now be bought in almost any hardware shop. + +[Illustration: A FANCY WHEELBARROW.] + +For further particulars on wood-carving, see illustrated articles in +ST. NICHOLAS, Vol. I., pp. 84, 215, 346, 592. + + +A SET OF TEA-NAPKINS. + +There hardly could be a nicer gift for a girl to make for her mother +or married sister than a set of tea-napkins, with a large initial +letter in white, or white and red, embroidered on each. The doily +should be folded in four, and the letter out-lined in lead pencil in +the corner of one of the quarters. If inked very black on paper, and +held dry to the window behind the linen, the initial is easily traced. +The pattern is then run and "stuffed" with heavy working-cotton, and +the letter embroidered in finer cotton. Another nice gift is a long +fringed towel, with three very large letters in white, or blue, or +crimson, worked half-way between the middle and the side edge. Folded +over lengthwise, it is a convenient thing to lay on a bureau-top +or the front of a sideboard, and the large colored letters make it +ornamental as well. Patterns of initials can be bought in any fancy +shop. If desired, they can be bought already worked, requiring only to +be transferred to the napkin. + + +NAPKIN-BANDS. + +Any of you who have mastered cross-stitch, and learned to follow a +pattern, will find these bands easy enough to make. Their use is to +fasten a napkin round a child's neck at dinner, and take the place of +that disobliging "pin," which is never at hand when wanted. You must +cut a strip of Java canvas, two inches wide by a foot long; overcast +the edges, and work on it some easy little vine in worsted, or a +Grecian pattern, or, if you like, a short motto, such as "More haste, +worse speed." Line the strip with silk, turn in the edges, overhand +them, and finish the ends with two of those gilt clasps which are used +to loop up ladies' dresses. + + +A RUSTIC VASE. + +[Illustration] + +It is very easy to get the material out of which this vase is made. +You need only go to your wood-pile, or, if you have none, to the +wood-pile of a neighbor. Choose a round stick four inches in diameter +and eight or ten inches long, with a smooth bark. If you find the +stick, and it is too long, you can easily saw off an end. Now comes +the difficult part of the work: The inside of the stick must be +scooped out to within four inches of the bottom. The easiest way of +accomplishing this will be to send it to a turning-mill if there +is one at hand; if not, patience and a jack-knife will in the end +prevail. Next, with a little oil-color, paint a pretty design on +the bark, if you can,--trailing-arbutus, partridge berry, sprays of +linnea,--any wood thing which can be supposed to cluster naturally +round a stump. Set the stump in a flower-pot saucer, filled with +earth, and planted with mosses and tiny ferns; fit a footless wine +or champagne glass, or a plain cup, into the hollow end, and, with a +bunch of grasses and wild flowers, or autumn leaves, you have a really +exquisite vase, prettier than any formal article bought in a shop, and +costing little more than time and patience, with a touch of that rare +thing--taste! which, after all, is not so very rare as some people +imagine. Any friend will prize such a vase of your own making. + + +A TABLE-COVER. + +A really charming cover for a small table can be made in this way: Cut +a square--or oblong, as the case may be--of that loosely woven linen +which is used for glass-towels, making it about four inches larger all +round than the table it is meant to fit. Pale yellow or brown is the +best color to select. Ravel the edges into a fringe two inches deep; +then, beginning two inches within the edge, draw the linen threads all +round in a band an inch and three-quarters wide. Lace the plain space +thus left with dark-red ribbon of the same width, woven in and out in +regular spaces, and at each corner tie the ribbon in a graceful knot +with drooping ends. + + +ANOTHER TABLE-COVER. + +This cover is made of pale-brown Turkish toweling. Cut a piece of +the size to suit your table, and baste all round it, first a row of +scarlet worsted braid, then of olive, then of yellow, leaving spaces +each an inch and a half wide between the rows. Cat-stitch the braids +down on both edges with saddlers' silk, and feather-stitch between +them in silks, choosing colors which harmonize, and turning the whole +into a wide stripe brilliant and soft at the same time. The choice and +placing of the colors will be excellent practice for your eye, and +after a little while you will be able to tell, as soon as a couple +of inches are done, if you are putting the right tint into the right +place. It is infinitely more interesting to feel your way thus through +a piece of work than to follow any set pattern, however pretty, and it +is far more cultivating to the taste. + + +A PAPER TRANSPARENCY. + +Take a piece of white, or tinted, or silver paper, exactly ten and a +half inches square. Fold it double diagonally. Fold it double again. +Fold it double once more. + +You will now have a triangular-shaped form of eight thicknesses. Now +lay this folded piece on a pine table, or on a smooth piece of pine +board. Next, lay evenly over it, so that it will fit exactly, the +"pattern of transparency," or an exact tracing from it. When so +placed, secure them firmly to the board by pins driven in at each +corner. Now, with a very sharp pen-knife follow and cut _through to +the board_ the lines of the pattern, so as to cut out all the portions +that show black in the design. When this is all done, pull out +the pins, open your folded paper, and you will have a square form +beautifully figured in open-work. It should be laid between two sheets +of white paper and carefully pressed with a hot iron, and then it can +be lined with black or fancy tissue paper, and hung against a pane in +the window as a "transparency;" or you may use it as a picture-frame, +inserting an engraving or photograph in the center. + +The original, from which our pattern is taken, was cut during the late +war by a young Union soldier while in Libby prison. + +[Illustration: PATTERN OF PAPER TRANSPARENCY.] + + +SHAWL-BAGS. + +These bags are capital things to save a shawl from the dust of a +journey, and, if of good size, can be made to serve a useful purpose +by packing into them dressing materials, etc., for which there is +not room in your hand-bag. The best material for them is stout brown +Holland. Cut two round end-pieces eight inches in diameter and a piece +half a yard wide by twenty-four inches long. Stitch these together, +leaving the straight seam open nearly all the way across, and bind its +edges and the edges of the end-pieces with worsted braid (maroon +or dark brown), put on with a machine. Close the opening with five +buttons and button-holes. Bind with braid a band of the Holland two +inches wide, and fasten it over the button-holed side, leaving a large +loop in the middle to carry the bag by. + +By way of ornament you may embroider three large letters in +single-stitch on the side, using worsted of the color of the braid, or +may put a pattern down either side of the opening and round the ends +in braiding, or a braided medallion with initials in the center. + + +A JAPANESE BASKET FOR GRANDMOTHER. + +You will never guess what the top of this droll little basket is made +of, unless we tell you. It is one of those Japanese cuffs of brown +straw which can be bought nowadays for a small price at any of +the Japanese shops. You may embroider a little pattern over +it--diagonally, if you wish to make it look very Japanese-y; line it +with silk or satin, and fasten a small bag of the same material to the +bottom, drawn up with a ribbon bow or a tassel. A band of wide ribbon +is sewed to the top. Grandmamma will find this just the thing to hang +on her arm for holding her knitting-ball, or the knitting itself if +she wishes to lay it aside. This sort of basket also is useful as a +"catch-all" when hung at the side of a dressing-bureau. + +[Illustration: JAPANESE HANGING-BASKET OF STRAW AND SILK] + + +A CATCH-ALL, MADE FROM A SINGLE SQUARE. + +This is very pretty, and very easily made. Take a piece of silver (or +gold) perforated paper, eight inches square, and ornament it with +worsted or silk, as in the diagram, all in one direction. To make the +cornucopia, it is only necessary to join any two edges (as A and B) +by first binding each with ribbon and then sewing them together. Line +with silk, and put box-plaiting at the top. A worsted tassel might be +put at the top (in front) as well as at the bottom, and a loop at C. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF PATTERN TO BE WORKED ON PERFORATED PAPER FOR +A CATCH-ALL.] + +If silver paper is used, the trimmings would better be all red. All +blue would look well with gold paper. But the colors may be varied +according to taste. If your friend is a brunette, you will find that +he or she will be most pleased with the red, while a blonde will +prefer blue. + +[Illustration: A CATCH-ALL MADE OF PERFORATED PAPER.] + + +A WALL-POCKET OF SPLITS. + +Splits, or cigar-lighters as they are sometimes called, are to be +had at any of the fancy shops. They are an inch wide and about seven +inches long, and come in various shades of brown and straw color, +and their flexibility makes it easy to weave them in and out like +basket-work. For the wall-pocket you must weave two squares, each +containing six splits each way, but one made larger than the other, as +seen in the picture. A few stitches in cotton of the same color will +hold the strips in place. Line the smaller of the squares with silk, +and lay it across the face of the other in such a way that the four +points shall make a diamond, touching the middle of each side of the +square. Fasten it to the wall by two of the splits crossed and united +by a bow of ribbons, and fill the pocket with dried autumn leaves and +ferns gracefully arranged. + +[Illustration: WALL-POCKET OF SPLITS.] + + +SILHOUETTE LIKENESSES. + +This is rather a Christmas game than a present, but will answer well +for either; and young folks can get much fun out of an evening spent +in "taking" each other. Each in turn must stand so as to cast a sharp +profile shadow on the wall, to which is previously pinned, white side +out, a large sheet of paper, known as silhouette paper, black on one +side and white on the other. Somebody draws the outline of this shadow +_exactly_ with a pencil; it is then cut out and pasted neatly, black +side up, on a sheet of white paper. Good and expressive likenesses are +often secured, and droll ones _very_ often. Try it, some of you, in +the long evenings which are coming. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF WALL-POCKET.] + + +A LEAF PEN-WIPER. + +Your pattern for this must be a beech-leaf again,--a _long_ one this +time,--or you may trace the shape from the illustration. Outline the +shape as before, and from the model thus secured cut six leaves in +flannel--two green, two brown, and two red, or red, white and blue, or +any combination you like. Snip the edge of each leaf into very tiny +points, and chain-stitch veins upon it with gold-colored floss. Attach +these leaves together by the upper ends, arranging under them three +triply pointed leaves of black broadcloth or silk to receive the ink, +and finish the top with a small bow of ribbon. + +[Illustration: A LEAF PEN-WIPER.] + + +A BIRDS'-NEST PEN-WIPER. + +Girls are always trying to find something which they can make to +delight their papas, and a gay little pen-wiper with fresh uninked +leaves rarely comes amiss to a man who likes an orderly writing-table. +Here is a pretty one which is easily made. For the pattern you may +borrow a moderately large beech-leaf from the nearest tree (or +botanical work); lay it down on paper, pencil the outline and cut it +out neatly. Repeat this six or eight times in black cloth or velvet, +and sew the leaves round a small oval or circle of black cloth. Knit +and ravel out a quantity of yellow worsted or floss silk, and with it +construct a nest in the center of the oval, putting a hen into the +nest. This hen may be made of canton flannel, stuffed with cotton-wool +and painted in water color, with a comb of red flannel, two black +beads for eyes, and a tuft of feathers by way of tail. But better +still and much easier, buy one of the droll little Japanese chicks +which can be had at the shops now for twenty or twenty-five cents, and +fasten it in the middle of the nest. Three plain circles of cloth are +fastened underneath for wiping the pens. + + +JAPANESE PEN-WIPER. + +[Illustration: A JAPANESE PEN-WIPER.] + +A nice little pen-wiper can be made by cutting three circles of black +cloth, snipping the edges or button-holing them with colored silk, and +standing in the middle one of the droll little Japanese birds just +mentioned. Of course it should be secured firmly at the feet. There +are long-legged birds and short-legged ones. A tiny stork is very +pretty. + + +BLEACHED GRASSES. + +Some of you who have been pressing autumn leaves for winter use may +like to hear of a new way of bleaching grasses to mix with them. The +process is exceedingly simple. Take a few of the grasses in your hand +at a time, dip them into a pan of water, shake gently, dip into a pan +of sifted flour, and again shake gently. All the superfluous flour +will fall off, but enough will remain to make the grasses snowy-white. +When dry it is perfectly firm, and you would never guess what process +produced the effect. A bunch of these white grasses in a coral-red +basket is a vivid object. + +Colored grasses, to our thinking, are not half so pretty as the same +grasses when left in their own soft natural browns and yellows. Still, +as some people like them, we will just mention that the same process +can be used for them as for the white grass, by mixing with small +portions of flour, a little dry paint powder, vermilion, green, etc. +A bunch of the deep red mixed with the bleached grass has a gay and +uncommon effect. + + +A NUBÉ IN TWO COLORS. + +A novelty in knitting is a nubé in Shetland wool of two colors--pink +or crimson or blue with white. The skeins are opened, and the two +strands, laid side by side, are wound double in a large ball. The +nubé is then knit in the usual way with large needles and common +garter-stitch, and is very fine. + + +LAMP SHADES. + +Plain white porcelain lamp-shades, such as are used on the German +student-lamps, look well when decorated with wreaths of autumn leaves +put on with mucilage. We read lately in the _Tribune_ that leaves +treated with extract of chlorophyl became transparent. This would be +a fine experiment for some of you to try, and a garland of the +transparent leaves would be much more beautiful around a shade than +the ordinary dried ones. + +There are other styles of lamp-shades that can be made with little +difficulty, for instance: A very pretty shade is easily formed by +cutting in thin drawing-board fine scalloped sections, which, tied +together with narrow ribbon, take the form of a shade. Leaves are +glued to the under side of these, and a lining of thin tissue-paper +is pasted on to hold them in place. Still another is made in the same +way, with doubled sections of card-board, between each pair of which +is laid a steel engraving or wood-cut, or an unmounted photograph. The +pictures are invisible till the lamp is lighted: then they gleam forth +with something of the soft glow of a porcelain transparency. + + +A GLOVE-BOX. + +In any of the fancy shops you can now buy the slender frames of +silvered tin on which these boxes are made. Cut out double pieces of +pale-tinted silk to fit the top, bottom, sides and ends, and quilt +each separately with an interlining of cotton batting, on which +sachet-powder has been lightly sprinkled. Slip the pieces between the +double rods of the frame, sew over and over, and finish with a plaited +satin ribbon all round, adding a neat little loop and bow to lift the +lid. + +The small tin boxes in which fancy biscuits are sold can be utilized +for glove-boxes, covered as you choose on the outside, and lined with +wadded silk. + + +ANOTHER GLOVE-BOX. + +This box can be made in very stiff card-board, but tin is better +if you have the pieces which form its shape cut by the tinman, and +punched with holes in rows an inch and a half apart. If you use +card-board, you must punch your own holes, measuring the places for +them with rule and pencil. In either case, you will need the same +number of pieces and of the same size, namely: two strips one foot +long and five inches wide, two strips one foot long and three inches +wide, and two strips five inches long and three inches wide. Cover +each piece with a layer of cotton wadding, sprinkled with sachet +powder, and a layer of silk or satin of any color you prefer. Then +catch the silk firmly down through the holes in the tin, making long +stitches on the wrong side, and small cross-stitches on the right, +so as to form neat regular tufts. A very tiny button sewed in each +depression has a neat effect. When the inside of the box is thus +tufted, baste the pieces together, cover the outside with black or +dark silk or satin, embroidered or ornamented in any way your fancy +may dictate, overhand the edges daintily, and neatly finish with +a small cord. Square boxes made in the same way are pretty for +pocket-handkerchiefs. + +[Illustration: SILK GLOVE-BOX.] + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MANNER OF TUFTING THE LINING OF +SILK GLOVE-BOX.] + + +A COAL-SCUTTLE PIN-CUSHION. + +This droll little scuttle is made of black enamel cloth, cut according +to the diagrams on next page. Fig. 1 is cut double and folded over +at G. The two sides marked B and E in Fig. 1 are bound with black +galloon; also the two sides marked with the same letters in Fig. 2. + +[Illustration: COAL-SCUTTLE PINCUSHION AND NEEDLE BOOK.] + +Before binding over, cast a bit of wire around the top and one around +the bottom of the scuttle, and bend each into its proper shape. Figs. +3 and 4 are bound all round, and sewed over and over to the places +indicated. Wrap two bits of wire, one four inches long and the other +an inch and a quarter, with black worsted, and insert them through +little holes made for the purpose to serve as the handles of the +scuttle; stuff the inside firmly with hair or cotton-wool, cover the +top with flannel, cut after Fig. 4, and button-hole the edges down all +round with worsted of the color of the flannel. If you like to add +a needle-book you can do so by cutting three leaves of differently +colored flannels, after the shape of Fig. 4, snipping the edges into +points, or button-holing them, and fastening the leaves to the back of +the scuttle above the pincushion. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAMS OF COAL-SCUTTLE PINCUSHION AND NEEDLE-BOOK. +Fig. 1.--Pattern of Coal-Scuttle Pinchusion. Fig. 2.--Part of Pattern +of Coal-Scuttle Pinchusion. Fig. 3.--Bottom of Coal-Scuttle. Fig. +4.--Top of Coal-Scuttle.] + + +A BIT OF PLAIN WORK. + +There are notable little sempstresses even in these days of machines +("and I am thankful to know that there are," says Mother Santa Claus) +who set their stitches as swiftly and as precisely as ever their +grandmothers did before them, and have the same liking for what used +to be called "white seam." To such we would suggest, what a nice and +useful Christmas present would be a beautifully made under-garment. +It need not of necessity be a shirt, though in old days no girl was +considered educated who could not finish one all by herself, from +cutting out to the last button-hole; but an apron or petticoat or +dressing-jacket or night-gown, over which little fingers had labored +deftly and lovingly, would, it seems to us, be a most wonderful +and delightful novelty for mamma or grandmamma to find on the +Christmas-tree this year. A set of handkerchiefs nicely hemmed and +marked (girls used to cross-stitch the marks in their own hair!), or +a soft flannel petticoat, cat-stitched at the seams, scalloped with +coarse working cotton,--which grows whiter with washing, instead of +yellowing like silk,--with three pretty initials on the waistband, +would be other capital ideas. Try them. + + +WORK APRONS. + +The great convenience of these aprons is that the work can be rolled +up in them and laid aside for use. They are made of brown Holland +trimmed with black or blue or crimson worsted braid. Little loops of +doubled braid ornament the edge, and are held in place by a plain row +of the braid stitched on above them. The lower and largest pocket +should be made full and drawn up with a cord at top, so as to hold +rolls of pieces, worsteds and patterns. The little pockets are for +spools of silk and thread, tapes, buttons, and so on. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF WORK APRON.] + + +A LEAF NEEDLE-BOOK. + +For this needle-book you will need the following materials: One-eighth +of a yard of crimson or green velvet, one-eighth of a yard of lining +silk to match, one-eighth of a yard of fine white flannel, two skeins +of white silk floss, a bit of Bristol-board, and a half yard of narrow +ribbon. + +Cut in the Bristol-board a couple of leaf-shaped pieces like the +illustration. Cover each with the velvet, turning in the edges neatly, +line with the silk, and button-hole both together all round with white +floss. Stitch the veins in the leaves with the floss, held tightly, so +as to depress the lines a little. Cut three leaves of flannel in the +same shape, button-hole the edges, lay them between the leaves, and +fasten all together at top with a bow of ribbon. A tiny loop and +button should be attached to the point to hold the needle-book +together. + +[Illustration: PATTERN OF LEAF NEEDLE-BOOK.] + +[Illustration: PAD OF LEAF NEEDLE-BOOK.] + + +BOOK-MARK. + +A large lace-like cross hanging from the end of a wide ribbon makes +a handsome and appropriate mark for a big bible or prayer-book. The +materials cost almost nothing, all that is required being a bit of +perforated card-board, a sharp penknife, and--patience. Trace the form +of the cross on the card-board, and outline the pattern on one side in +pencil. You will observe that the one given as illustration is made +up of small forms many times repeated, and this is the case with +all patterns used for this purpose. The easiest way to outline it +regularly is to do a square of eight holes at a time, marking the +places to be cut, and leaving the uncut places white. When all is +marked, place on a smooth board and cut, following the markings +exactly with your knife. The work cannot be hurried: it must be done +slowly and very carefully if you hope to succeed. + + * * * * * + +And now we will turn out the more difficult things from the bottom of +the basket, and you big, clever boys and girls who can do what you +like with your fingers and knives and needles and paint-brushes, can +take your pick from them. + + +AUTUMN-LEAF WORK. + +If you have an old work-box, or desk, or table-top, or screen, which +has grown shabby, and which you would like to renew, we can tell you +how to do so. First, you must take those generous friends, the woods, +into your counsel. Gather and press every bright, perfect leaf and +spray which comes in your way this autumn, and every graceful bit of +vine, and a quantity of small brown and gold-colored ferns, and those +white feathery ones which have blanched in the deep shadows. These +ready, paint your box, or whatever it is, with solid black, let it +dry, rub it smooth with fine sand-paper, and repeat the process three +times. Then glue the leaves and ferns on, irregularly scattered, or +in regular bouquets and wreaths, as suits your fancy. Apply a coat of +isinglass, dissolved in water, to the whole surface, and when that is +dry, three coats of copal varnish, allowing each to dry before the +next is put on. The effect is very handsome. And, even without +painting the objects black, this same style of leaf and fern-work can +be applied to earthen vases, wooden boxes, trays and saucers, for +card-receivers. For these, you may get some good hints from the +illustrations on subsequent pages. The same illustrations will apply +to the "novelties in fern-work" given further on. + + +A WINDOW TRANSPARENCY. + +Another pretty use for autumn leaves is a transparency for a window. +Arrange a group of the leaves upon a pane of glass, lay another pane +of same size over these, and glue the edges together, first with a +strip of stout muslin, and then with narrow red ribbon, leaving a +loop at each upper corner to hang it up by. The deep leaf colors seen +against the light are delightful. + + +SIDE-LIGHT TRANSPARENCIES. + +Any of you who happen to live in a house which has, like many old +houses, a narrow side-light on either side of its front-door, and a +row of panes across the top, can make a pretty effect by preparing a +series of these transparencies to fit the door-glasses, and fastening +them on by driving a stout tack into the sashes so as to support +the four corners of each pane. The transparencies could be prepared +secretly and put into place overnight, or on Christmas morning, before +any one is up, so as to give mother a pleasant surprise as she comes +downstairs. + + +A FRAME OF AUTUMN LEAVES. + +Procure an oblong bit of tin, eight inches by ten, or ten inches by +twelve, and have a large oval cut out in the middle. Paint the tin +with two coats of black, glue a small group of leaves in each corner, +with a wire spray or tendril to connect them, varnish with two coats +of copal, and put a small picture behind the oval. + + +A FRAME OF MAIDEN-HAIR. + +Cut a pasteboard frame three inches wide of the size you need, and sew +thickly all over it little sprays of maiden-hair ferns, pressed and +dried. It is fastened to the wall with a pin at each corner, and of +course does not support a glass. The effect of the light fern shapes +against the wall is very delicate and graceful, and unsubstantial as +it may seem, the frame lasts a long time, especially if, when the +maiden-hair first begins to curl, the whole is taken down and +re-pressed for two or three days under a heavy book. + +[Illustration: VASE (AUTUMN-LEAF WORK).] + + +NOVELTIES IN FERN-WORK. + +We hope some of you have collected a good supply of ferns of the +different colors,--deep brown, yellow, green and white,--for by means +of a new process you can make something really beautiful with them. It +requires deft fingers and good eyes, but with practice and patience +any of you could manage it. Supposing it to be a table-top which you +wish to ornament, you proceed as follows: Paint the wood all over with +black or very dark brown; let it dry, and rub it smooth with pumice. +Next varnish. And here comes the point of the process. _While the +varnish is wet_, lay your ferns down upon it, following a design which +you have arranged clearly in your head, or marked beforehand on a +sheet of paper. A pin's point will aid you to move and place the +fragile stems, which must not be much handled, and must lie perfectly +flat, with no little projecting points to mar the effect, which when +done should be like mosaic-work. As soon as the pattern is in place, +varnish again immediately. The ferns, thus inclosed in a double wall +of varnish, will keep their places perfectly. Next day, when all is +dry, varnish once more. Small articles of white holly-wood decorated +in this way are very pretty, and a thin china plate with an overlaying +of these varnished ferns becomes a beautiful and ornamental +card-receiver. + +[Illustration: CARD-RECEIVER (AUTUMN-LEAF WORK).] + + +A SHOE-CHAIR. + +An old cane-seated chair will answer perfectly to make this, provided +the frame-work is strong and good. Cut away the cane and insert in its +place a stout bag of twilled linen, the size of the seat and about ten +inches deep. Around this bag sew eight pockets, each large enough for +a pair of shoes. The round pocket left in the middle will serve to +hold stockings. Have a bit of thin wood cut to fit the seat of the +chair; fasten on this a cushion covered with cretonne, with a deep +frill all around (or a narrow frill, provided you prefer to fasten the +deep ruffle around the chair itself, as shown in the picture), and a +little loop in front by which the seat can be raised like the lid of a +box, when the shoes are wanted. This chair is really a most convenient +piece of furniture for a bedroom. + +[Illustration: A SHOE-CHAIR, WITH COVER (OR SEAT) REMOVED.] + + +SCRAP-BAGS IN TURKISH TOWELING. + +These are convenient little affairs. Hung on the gas-fixture beside a +looking-glass, or on a hook above the work-table, they will be found +just the things to catch odds and ends, such as hair, burnt matches, +ravelings and shreds of cloth, which are always accumulating, and for +which many city bedrooms afford no receptacle. The materials needed +are three-quarters of a yard of pale-brown Turkish toweling, six +yards of red worsted braid, four steel rings (to hold the strings), +one-eighth of a yard each of blue, white, and scarlet cashmere, a +skein each of blue, red, green, yellow, and black worsted, and a small +red tassel in chenille or silk. + +Cut four pieces of the toweling, twelve inches long and six and a half +wide, and shape them according to diagram. + +Bind each around with braid. Cut out a shape in cashmere of the three +colors laid one over the other, and button-hole it on with worsted, +contrasting the shades in as gay and marked a manner as possible. +In the design given, A is white cashmere, B red, and C blue. A is +button-holed with green, B with black, and C with yellow. B is +chain-stitched in blue and white lines, C feather-stitched in white +and yellow. The daisy-like flower above is white, with a yellow center +and a green stem, and the long lines of stitching on either side are +in red and black. Some of these bags are very pretty. + +This bag could be simplified by using no cashmere, and +feather-stitching each quarter diagonally across with alternate black, +red, and yellow lines. + +[Illustration: PATTERN OF EACH OF THE FOUR SIDES OF SCRAP-BAG.] + +[Illustration: SCRAP-BAG IN TURKISH TOWELING.] + + +ANOTHER SCRAP-BAG. + +The upper part of this bag is made of silver perforated paper. Buy a +strip a foot long and six inches wide, and embroider it all over in +alternate lines of cross and single stitching, using single zephyr +worsted, blue or rose-colored. Cut a piece of stiff card-board of +exactly the same size, and line it with pink or blue silk to match the +worsted. Sew the two ends together to form a circle, lay the silver +paper smoothly over it, stitch down, and trim both edges with plaited +satin ribbon three-quarters of an inch wide. + +This is the top of your bag. The bottom is crocheted in worsted by the +ordinary long stitch, and sewed to the silver-paper top piece under +the satin ribbon. A worsted tassel finishes the lower end. + + +ARTISTIC EMBROIDERY. + +Just here a word to the girls about embroidery. In old days, when +embroidery was the chief occupation of noble dames and demoiselles, +the needle was used as a paint-brush might be, to make a picture of +some real thing or some ideal occurrence. For instance: the Bayeux +tapestry, worked in the eleventh century by Matilda, wife of William +the Conqueror, and her ladies, is a continuous series of pictures, two +hundred and fourteen feet long by about two feet wide, which represent +scenes in the invasion and conquest of England. Old as it is, the +colors are still undimmed and brilliant. Even so lately as the last +century, ladies designed their own patterns, and embroidered court +dresses and trimmings with flowers and birds copied from nature. But +for many years back fancy-work has degenerated into the following of +set models, without exercising any "fancy" of one's own at all. Now +the old method is come into fashion again, and it means so much more, +and is so vastly more interesting than copying a cut-and-dried pattern +from a shop, that we long to set you all to trying your hands at it. +For example, if you want a cushion with a group of daisies, gather a +handful of fresh ones,--take a bit of linen or china crape, or fine +crash or pongee, and, with green and white and gray and gold-colored +silks, make a picture of the daisies as they look to you, not using +any particular kind of stitch, but employing long ones or short ones, +or loose or tight ones, just as comes most easily in giving the effect +you want to get. This is much nicer than counting the stitches on a +paper pattern and a bit of canvas, and when done, produces a much +better effect. Even in winter, a real flower or a fern-spray, by way +of model, can always be found in the flower-shops or greenhouses. +Practice will stimulate invention and suggest all sorts of devices and +ideas. Bits of pretty stuffs will catch your eye as adaptable for use, +and oddly tinted silks (the old, faded colors often work in better +than fresh ones), patterns on fans, on rice paper, on Japanese +pictures--all sorts of things--will serve as material for your fancy. +And when your work is done it will be _original_, and, as such, more +valuable and interesting than any shop model, however beautiful in +itself, can possibly be. + +[Illustration: ANOTHER SCRAP-BAG (SILVER PERFORATED PAPER AND +CROCHET-WORK).] + +[Illustration: PAPER-CUTTER (NOVELTIES IN FERN-WORK).] + + +ORIENTAL WORK. + +Very gay and quaint effects are produced with this work, which is an +adaptation of the well-known Eastern embroideries. Its ground-work +is plain cashmere or flannel, red, black or blue, on which small +fantastically shaped figures in variously colored velvets or cashmeres +are laid and button-holed down with floss silks. All sorts of forms +are employed for these figures--stars, crescents, circles, trefoils, +shields, palm-leaves, griffins, imps; and little wheels and comets +in feather-stitch and cat-stitch are inserted between, to add to the +oddity of the whole. These forms can be bought at a low price in +almost any fancy shop. A good deal of ingenuity and taste can be shown +in arranging and blending the figures richly and brilliantly, without +making them too bright and glaring. Table-covers in this work should +have falls of deep points, pinked on the edges. Smaller points of +white cashmere are sometimes inserted between the deep ones, and +similarly decorated. Bright little tassels are swung between the +points by twisted silk cords. The tassels are made of strips of +scarlet and white flannel, cut _almost_ across, in narrow fringes, +rolled into shape, and confined by a tiny heading of flannel +embroidered with silk. Sofa-pillows in this Oriental work are bright +and effective, also wall-pockets and brackets--in fact, it can be +applied in many ways. The bracket shapes must be cut in wood, and +topped with flannel, the embroidered piece hanging across the front +like a miniature drapery. + + +BEDSIDE RUGS. + +The prettiest bedside rug which we ever saw was made in part of a +snow-white lamb's-wool mat. This was laid in the center of a stout +burlap, which projected six inches beyond the fleece all around, and +was bordered with a band of embroidery on canvas six inches wide, the +whole being lined with flannel and finished with a cord and a heavy +tassel at each corner. A simpler rug is made of brown burlap, with +a pattern in cross-stitch, worked in double zephyr worsteds of gay +colors. Initials, or a motto, can be embroidered in the middle. The +burlap can be fringed out around the edges for a finish. + +[Illustration: VASE, PAINTED BLACK AND ORNAMENTED WITH FERNS +(AUTUMN-LEAF WORK).] + + +A RAG RUG. + +An effective rug can be made in this way: Cut long inch-wide strips of +cloths, flannels, and various kinds of material (widening the strip, +however, in proportion as the fabric is thinner). Sew the ends together +so as to make one very long strip, which, for convenience' sake, +can be loosely wound up in a ball. Then, with a very large wooden +crochet-needle, you crochet a circle, a square, or oblong mat of this +rag-strip, just as with cotton or worsted. It makes a strong, durable, +and, with bright and tasteful colors, a very pretty rug. + + +A SCREEN. + +A folding clothes-horse with two leaves, such as is used in laundries, +makes the foundation for this screen. The wood is painted solid +black, and covered inside and out with very yellow unbleached cotton, +stretched tightly over the frame, and held down by black upholstery +braid fastened on with gilt nails. A design in flowers, leaves, birds, +double circles, crescents, and parallel bars, to imitate the Japanese +style of decoration, is painted in oil colors on the cotton, and a +motto on the wood along the top. If the motto is arranged to read +backward, the foreign effect of the whole will be enhanced. We have +seen a striking screen of this sort made by a little girl who, as she +could not paint in oil colors, decorated the surface with figures of +various kinds cut from Japanese picture-papers, such as are now sold +for from ten to twenty cents in the Japanese goods shops. Her figures +were so well pasted and arranged, that the screen was one of the +prettiest things in the bedroom. + +Screens covered with pictures cut from magazines and illustrated +newspapers are very much liked by boys and girls, and by some of their +elders. + + +A COUVRE-PIED. + +This is a large oblong in loosely knitted double zephyr wools, and is +made double, dark brown on one side, for instance, and pale blue on +the other. The two are united with a border in open crochet of the +brown, laced through with light blue ribbon, which is finished at each +corner with a loosely tied bow and ends. The _couvre-pied_, as the +name indicates, is meant to cover the feet of a person who lies on a +sofa, and is an excellent present to make to an elderly or invalid +friend. + + +TILE OR CHINA PAINTING. + +Don't be frightened at the word, dears. China-painting is high art +sometimes, and intricate and difficult work often, but it is quite +possible to produce pretty effects without knowing a great deal about +either china or painting. Neither are the materials of necessity +expensive. All that you need, to begin with, are a few half tubes of +china or mineral paints, which cost about as much as oil colors, +four or five camel's-hair brushes, a palette-knife, a small phial of +oil-of-lavender, and another of oil-of-turpentine, a plain glazed +china cup or plate or tile to work on, and either a china palette or +another plate on which to rub the paints. For colors, black, capuchine +red, rose-pink, yellow, blue, green and brown are an ample assortment +for a novice and for purposes of practice. We would advise only two +tubes, one of black and one of rose pink, which are colors that do +not betray your confidence when it comes to baking. For the chief +difficulty in china-painting is that to be permanent the work must +be "fired,"--that is, fused by a great heat in a furnace,--and it +requires a great deal of experience to learn what the different +tints are likely to do under this test. Some colors--yellow, for +instance--eat up, so to speak, the colors laid over them. Others +change tint. Pinks and some of the greens grow more intense; white +cannot be trusted, and mixing one paint with another, as in oils, can +only be done safely by experts. It is well, therefore, to begin with +two simple colors, and you will be surprised to see how much may be +done with them. (See "Hollenberry Cup," in ST. NICHOLAS for May, 1877, +page 458.) A cup of transparent white china, the handle painted black, +a Japanese-looking bough with black foliage and pink blossoms thrown +over it, and a little motto, has a really charming effect. But be sure +to put on the pink very pale, and the black, not in a hard, solid +streak, but delicately, to suggest shading from dark to light, or the +result of the baking will be disappointment. + +[Illustration: WOODEN BOX, ORNAMENTED WITH FERNS (AUTUMN-LEAF WORK).] + +The method of preparing the colors is to squeeze a very little paint +from each tube upon your palette or plate; take a tiny drop of +oil-of-lavender on the palette-knife, and with it rub the paint +smooth. It should be thinned just enough to work smoothly; every drop +of oil added after that is a disadvantage. Use a separate brush for +each color, and wash them thoroughly with soap and hot water before +putting them aside. The painting should be set away where no dust can +come to it, and it will dry rapidly in forty-eight hours or less. +Elaborate work often requires repainting after baking, the process +being repeated several times; but for simpler designs one baking is +usually enough. There are bakeries in Boston, New York, and others +of our large cities, to which china can be sent, the price of baking +being about ten cents for each article. + +[Illustration: TABLE-TOP (NOVELTIES IN FERN-WORK)] + + +OTHER MODES OF DECORATING CHINA. + +The picture-books which are to be found at the Japanese stores +nowadays suggest numberless excellent designs for china decorating. So +do the "Walter Crane Fairy-tales." A plain olive or cream-colored tile +with a pattern in bamboo-boughs and little birds, a milk-jug in gray +with leaves and a motto in black, a set of tiny butter-plates with +initials and a flower-spray on each, are easy things to attempt and +very effective when done. Pie-dishes can be ornamented with a long, +sketchy branch of blossoms or a flight of swallows across the bottom, +and we have seen those small dishes of Nancy ware, in which eggs are +first poached and then served on table, made very pretty by a painting +on each of a chicken, done in soft browns and reds, with a little line +to frame it in and run down along the handle. What we have mentioned +here are only suggestions; a little patience and practice will soon +help you to other patterns of your own, and we can't help hoping that +some of you will be tempted to try your hands at this delightful art. + + +DRAWING AND PAINTING ON WOOD. + +Articles in plain white wood can be bought almost anywhere nowadays. +Pen-trays, letter-racks, easels, paper-knives, photograph-frames, +watch-cases, needle-books, portfolios, glove-boxes, fans, +silk-winders--there is no end to the variety which can be had, and +had at a very moderate price. Now, any girl or boy among you with a +paint-box and a little taste for drawing, can make a really pretty +gift by decorating some one of these wooden things, either in color or +with pen drawings in brown or black. The pattern need by no means be +elaborate. A wreath of ivy simply out-lined in sepia or india-ink, or +a group of figures sketched with the same, produces a very pleasing +and harmonious effect. "Prout's Brown," a sort of fluent ink of a +burnt-umber tint, will be found excellent for drawing purposes. +For designs, our own ST. NICHOLAS will furnish excellent examples. +Scarcely a number but holds something which a clever artist can +adapt to his purpose. The "Miss Muffett" series, for example, or the +silhouettes, or the sea-side sketches, or the ornamental borders and +leaf-and-flower headings. Look over your back numbers, and you will +see how rich they are in subjects for copies. + +Here is a suggestion for such of you as live by the sea, and who know +something about drawing. Search for clam-shells on the beach, and +select the whitest and most perfectly formed. Separate the two shells, +cleanse them thoroughly, and make on the smooth pearly lining of each +a little drawing in sepia. It will serve as a receiver to stand on a +lady's toilet and hold rings and trinkets, or it can be used as +an ash-holder by a smoking gentleman, or to contain pens on a +writing-table. + + +A SHOE-CHAIR MADE OF A BARREL. + +Another shoe-chair as nice as that pictured on page 56 can be made out +of a barrel by any girl who has a father or big brother to help her a +little with the carpentering. The barrel is cut as in Fig. 1 below, so +as to form a back and a low front. The back is stuffed a little, and +covered with chintz nearly down to the floor. The front has a deep +frill tacked on all around the chair. Four blocks are nailed inside +the barrel to support a round of wood, stuffed and cushioned with the +same chintz, to serve as a seat. + +A straight shoe-bag, with eight pockets, is made in the same chintz, +and tacked firmly all around the inside. A loop of the chintz serves +to raise the seat. Four castors screwed to the bottom of the barrel +will be an improvement, as the chair without them cannot easily be +moved about. About five yards of chintz will be required for the +covering; or you might use the merino of an old dress. + +[Illustration: 1. SHOWS MANNER OF CUTTING BARREL. 2. BARREL SHOE-CHAIR +COMPLETED. 3. INTERIOR OF BARREL SHOE-CHAIR. 4. DIAGRAM SHOWING MODE +OF MAKING POCKETS FOR BARREL SHOE-CHAIR.] + + + +A MUSLIN TIDY. + +Three-quarters of a yard of clear French muslin will be needed for +this. Lay a large dinner-plate down on the muslin, draw the circle +made by its edge with a pencil, cut out, and lightly whip it round, +pulling the thread a little to keep the circle perfect. Measure the +circle, and cut a straight muslin ruffle, five inches wide and a +little less than twice as long as the measure. Roll one edge finely, +and overhand on a plain lace footing an inch and a half wide. Whip +the other edge, and sew it round the circle, graduating the fullness +equally. + +[Illustration: A MUSLIN TIDY TRIMMED WITH LACE FOOTING.] + +Baste a bit of lace footing three-quarters of an inch wide in the +middle of the circle, giving it the form of a bow-knot with two ends. +The lace must be bent and folded into the form, but not cut. Run the +edges with embroidery cotton, and button-hole all round. Then, with +sharp scissors, cut away the muslin underneath, leaving the bow-knot +transparent on a thicker ground. Dry-flute the ruffle. This little +affair is very dainty and odd, one of the prettiest things which we +have seen lately. + + +AN ILLUMINATED BORDER FOR A PHOTOGRAPH. + +St. Nicholas has given us of late such precise directions for the +process of illuminating in color,[2] that it is not needful to repeat +them; but we should like to suggest an idea to those of you who have +begun to practice the art. This is to illuminate a border or "mount" +around a favorite photograph. The picture must first be pasted on a +large sheet of tinted card-board, pale cream or gray being the best +tints to select. You then measure the spaces for your frame, which +should be square if the picture is oval or round, and outline +them lightly in lead-pencil. Next you sketch and paint your +pattern,--flowers, leaves, birds, butterflies, or a set pattern, as +you prefer,--putting the designs thickly together; and, lastly, you +fill all the blank spaces in with gold paint, leaving the pattern +in colors on a gilded ground. The outer edge of the frame should be +broken into little scallops or trefoils in gold, and the card-board +should be large enough to leave a space of at least three inches +between the illuminated border and the frame, which should be a wide +band of dull gilding or pale-colored wood, with a tiny line of black +to relieve it. The ornament should, if possible, chord in some way +with the picture. Thus a photograph of a Madonna might have the +annunciation-lilies and passion-flowers on the gold ground. + + [Footnote 2: SEE ST. NICHOLAS, Vol. IV., page 379.] + + +A BOOK OF TEXTS. + +Another choice thing which can be done by a skillful illuminator is a +small book, containing a few favorite texts, chosen by some friend. +Half-a-dozen will be enough. Each text occupies a separate page, and +is carefully lettered in red or black, with decorated initials, and +a border in colors. A great deal of taste can be shown in the +arrangement of these borders, which should be appropriate to the text +they surround. A title-page is added, and the book is bound in some +quaint way. A cover of parchment or white vellum, illuminated also, +can be made very beautiful. + + +A CARTE-DE-VISITE RECEIVER. + +For this you must procure from the tin-man a strip of tin three times +as long as it is wide--say six inches by eighteen--with each end +shaped to a point, as indicated in the picture. Measure off two bits +of card-board of exactly the same size and shape; cover one with +silk or muslin for a back, and the other with Java canvas, cloth, or +velvet, embroidered with a monogram in the upper point, and a little +pattern or motto in the lower. Lay the double coverings one on each +side of the tin, and cross the outside one with narrow ribbons, +arranged as in the picture. Overhand firmly all around; finish the top +with a plaited ribbon and a little bow and loop to hang it by, and the +bottom with a bullion fringe of the color of the ribbon. + +[Illustration: CARTE-DE-VISITE RECEIVER.] + + +A PAIR OF BELLOWS. + +There seems no end to the pretty devices which proficients in painting +can accomplish. We saw not long since a pair of wooden bellows which +had been decorated with a painting of a tiny owl sitting on a bough, +and the motto "Blow, blow, thou bitter wind." Why should not some of +you try your hands at something similar? Wood fires, thank heaven, are +much more common than they used to be, and most of you must know a +cozy chimney corner where a pretty pair of bellows would be valued. + + +A DOOR-PANEL. + +A great bunch of field-flowers, or fruit-boughs, or Virginia-creeper, +painted in water-paints on the panel of an ordinary door, is another +nice thing for you young artists to attempt. Perhaps you will object +that a picture on a door can hardly be called a Christmas present; but +we don't know. + +Anything which loving fingers can make, and loving hearts enjoy, is a +gift worthy of Christmas or any other time. + + +A SACHET IN WATER-COLORS. + +Another dainty idea for you who can paint is a small perfume-case of +white or pale-colored silk or satin, on which is painted a bunch of +flowers or a little motto. The flowers must be small ones, such as +forget-me-nots or purple and white violets. A great deal of white +paint--body color, as it is called--should be mixed with the color, to +make it thick enough not to soak and stain the silk along the edges of +the pattern. Some people paint the whole design in solid white, let +it dry, and then put on the color over the white. Others mix a little +ox-gall with the paint. + + +DECORATED CANDLES. + +The large wax or composition candles, of a firm texture, are best +for purposes of decoration. Water-color paints can be used, or those +powders which come for coloring wax flowers. In either case it will +be necessary to use a little ox-gall to give the paint consistency. +A band of solid tint--crimson, black, blue or gold--is usually put +around the middle of the candle, with a pattern in flowers or small +bright points above and below. Spirals of blue forget-me-nots all +over the candle are pretty, or sprays of leaves and berries set in a +regular pattern. These gay candles are considered ornamental for a +writing-table, and look well in the brass candlesticks which are +so much used just now, though _we_ confess to a preference for +unornamented candles of one solid tint. + + +A RUSTIC JARDINIÈRE. + +Boys and girls who live in the country hardly know how lucky they are, +or what mines of materials for clever handiwork lie close by them in +the fruitful, generous woods. What with cones and leaves and moss and +lichens and bark and fungi and twigs and ferns, these great green +store-houses beat all the fancy shops for variety and beauty, and +their "stock" is given away without money or price to all who choose +to take. Most of you know something of the infinite variety of things +which can be made out of these wood treasures, though nobody knows, or +can know, _all_. Now, we want to tell you of a new thing, not at all +difficult to make, and which would be a lovely surprise for some one +this coming Christmas. + +It is a rustic jardinière, or flower-pot. The first step toward making +it is to find a small stump about ten inches high, and as odd and +twisted in shape as possible. It should have a base broader than its +top, and three or four little branches projecting from its sides. +Carry this treasure home, brush off any dirt which may cling to it, +and ornament it with mosses and lichens, glued on to look as natural +as possible. Make three small cornucopias of pasteboard; cover them +also with mosses and lichens, and fasten them to the stump between the +forks of the branches, using small brads or tacks to keep them firm. +Stuff the cornucopias with dry moss, and arrange in each a bouquet of +grasses, autumn leaves, and dried ferns, dipping the end of each +stem in flour paste, to make it secure in its place. Sprays of +blackberry-vine or michella, and the satin-white pods of the +old-fashioned "honesty," make an effective addition. When done, we +have a delightful winter-garden, which will keep its beauty through +the months of snow and sleet, and brighten any room it stands in. Nor +is its use over when winter ends, for, inserting small glass phials in +the cornucopias, fresh flowers can be kept in them as in a vase, and +the grays and browns of the lichened wood set off their hues far +better than any gay vase could. + + +ANOTHER JARDINIÈRE. + +Another rustic flower-holder can be made by selecting three knotty +twigs, two and a half feet long and about an inch in diameter, and +nailing them together in the form of a tripod, one half serving as a +base, the other to hold a small flower-pot or a goblet whose foot has +been broken off. The lower half should be strengthened with cross +pieces nailed on, and both halves with twists of wild grape-vine or +green briar, wired at their crossings to hold them firmly in place. +When the frame is ready, melt together half a pound of bees'-wax, a +quarter of a pound of rosin, and enough powdered burnt-umber to give +a dark brown color; and pour the mixture on boiling hot. It will give +the wood a rich tint. Fill the pot with sand, place over the sand a +layer of green moss well pulled apart, and in that arrange a bouquet +of dried leaves, ferns and grasses, or, if it is summer-time, wild +flowers and vines. + + * * * * * + +Now, dear fancy-workers, little and big, surely Mother Santa Claus has +furnished you with ideas enough to keep you busy for more Christmases +than one. Just one thing more, and that is the manner in which the +presents shall be given. Nothing can be droller than to hang up +one's stockings, and nothing prettier or more full of meaning than a +Christmas-tree. But for some of you who may like to make a novelty in +these time-honored ways, we will just mention that it is good fun +to make a "Christmas-pie" in an enormous tin dish-pan, with a +make-believe crust of yellow cartridge paper, ornamented with twirls +and flourishes of the same, held down with pins, and have it served on +Christmas Eve, full of pretty things and sugar-plums, jokes and jolly +little rhymes fastened to the parcels. The cutting should be done +beforehand, and hidden by the twirls of paper; but the carver can +pretend to use his knife and fork, and spooning out the packages will +insure a merry time for all at table. And one more suggestion. Little +articles, wrapped in white paper, can be put inside cakes, baked and +iced, and thus furnish another amusing surprise for the "pie" or the +Christmas-tree. + + * * * * * + +We are indebted to Mrs. L. B. Goodall, Mrs. M. E. Stockton, Mrs. +Tolles, Miss Annie M. Phoebus, Miss M. Meeker, and Miss M. H. D., +for designs and suggestions in aid of this article; and to the +"Ladies' Floral Cabinet" for some valuable hints on "Leaf-work." + + * * * * * + + + + +LITTLE TWEET. + + +There were once some nice little birds who lived together in a great +big cage. This cage was not at all like the bird-cages we generally +see. It was called an aviary, and it was as large as a room. It had +small trees and bushes growing in it, so that the birds could fly +about among the green leaves and settle on the branches. There were +little houses where the birds might make their nests and bring up +their young ones, and there was everything else that the people who +owned this big cage thought their little birds would want. It had +wires all around it to keep the birds from flying away. + +One of the tamest and prettiest of the birds who lived in this place +was called little Tweet, because, whenever she saw any of the family +coming near the cage she would fly up close to the wires and say, +"Tweet! Tweet!" which meant "Good-morning! how do you do?" But they +thought it was only her pretty way of asking for something to eat; and +as she said "Tweet" so much, they gave her that for a name. + +One day there was a boy who came to visit the family who owned the +birds, and very soon he went to see the big cage. He had never seen +anything like it before. He had never been so close to birds that were +sitting on trees or hopping about among the branches. If the birds +at home were as tame as these, he could knock over lots of them, he +thought. + +There was one that seemed tamer than any of the rest. It came up close +to him and said: "Tweet! Tweet!" + +The boy got a little stick and pushed it through the wires at little +Tweet, and struck her. Poor little Tweet was frightened and hurt. She +flew up to a branch of the tree and sat there, feeling very badly. +When the boy found he could not reach her any more with his stick, he +went away. + +Tweet sat on the branch a long time. The other birds saw she was sick, +and came and asked how she felt. Some of them carried nice seeds to +her in their bills. But little Tweet could not eat anything. She ached +all over, and sat very quietly with her head down on her breast. + +[Illustration: "THE OTHER BIRDS BRING SEEDS TO POOR TWEET."] + +She sat on that branch nearly all day. She had a little baby-bird, who +was in a nest in one of the small houses, but the other birds said she +need not go and feed it if she did not wish to move about. They would +take it something to eat. + +But, toward night, she heard her baby cry, and then she thought she +must go to it. So she slowly flew over to her house; and her baby, who +was in a little nest against the wall, was very glad to see her. + +In the morning, two of the birds came to the house to see how little +Tweet was, and found her lying on the floor, dead. The little +baby-bird was looking out of its nest, wondering what it all meant. +How sorry those two birds were when they found that their good little +friend Tweet was really dead! + +"Poor Tweet!" said one of them, "She was the gentlest and best of us +all. And that poor little dear in the nest there, what will become of +it?" + +"Become of it!" replied the other bird, who was sitting by poor Tweet, +"Become of it! Why, it shall never want for anything. I shall take it +for my own, and I will be a kind mother to it, for the sake of poor +little Tweet." + +Now, do you not think that there were good, kind birds in that big +cage? But what do you think of the boy? + +[Illustration: "I WILL BE A KIND MOTHER TO IT, FOR THE SAKE OF POOR +LITTLE TWEET."] + + + +[Illustration] + +JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT. + + +Hurrah for the new volume!--Volume V., I believe it is to be called. +That reminds me of the names of Japanese children, hundreds of years +ago. Instead of being known by the Japanese for Tom, Henry, or John, +it was No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and so on, through a whole family of +little folks. + +Once you had an article[1] on Japanese Games by a native of Japan, +Ichy Zo Hattori. Well, this name, as you will all admit, is a +fine-sounding appellative enough, but in English it means simply No. 1 +Hattori. + + [Footnote 1: See ST. NICHOLAS for January, 1874.] + +So, welcome to the lovely new child, No. 5 St. Nicholas!--and that he +may grow to be a brave, bright volume, beautiful to look at and useful +to this and many a generation of little folks, is your Jack's earnest +wish. + +Of one thing the little fellow may be sure,--Jack and the Deacon, and +the dear, blessed Little School-ma'am, will stand by him to the end. +And so will you, my chicks, Jack verily believes. He'll be a good +friend to you, bringing you any amount of fun, and telling you more +good things every month than you'll remember in a thousand years. + +Now we'll take up our next subject. + + +AN ARTIFICIAL HORSE THAT CAN GO. + +Well, well! The birds must be joking, for who ever heard of a bird +telling a deliberate lie? And yet it _may_ be true. There have been +artificial men,--manikins, automata, or whatever they are called,--so +why shouldn't there be artificial horses? + +Come to think of it, it was not the birds who told me about them. It +was a letter; and "artificial horses" the letter said, as plainly as +could be. It told how a fine specimen had just been exhibited in the +capital of Prussia. The thing must look like a horse, too, for it is a +hobby between two high wheels (the rider sits on the saddle), and it +travels about as rapidly as a trotting horse. As I understand it, +the rider moves his legs to make the machine go, and yet it isn't a +bicycle. It goes over stony roads, turns corners, and, for aught Jack +knows, rears and kicks like any ordinary charger--that is, when it's +out of order. + +I should like to see one among the boys of the red school-house. How +they would make it go! + + + A LETTER FROM DEACON GREEN. + + DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: I wish some of the boys and girls who + think they never have any chance to read could know a little + fellow of my acquaintance, named George. He is fourteen years old + and employed as errand boy in a business house in New York. All + day long he runs, runs,--up-town, down-town, across town,--until + you would suppose that his little legs would be worn out. But, + always on the alert as he is, and ready to do his duty whether + tired or not, he still keeps constantly before his mind the idea + of self-improvement, in business and out. Through a friend he has + of late been able to procure books from the Mercantile Library. + Although his time during the day, as I have said, is wholly taken + up with his duties, yet he managed, during the evenings of last + fall and winter (in five months), to read twelve books, some of + them quite long ones and some of them in two volumes, all selected + with his friend's assistance. From the list, I fancy the little + fellow had an eye to enjoyment as well as profit, for they are not + all what are called instructive books, although every one of them + is a good book for a boy to read, and George tells me he enjoyed + them all heartily. + + As many of your youngsters, friend Jack, may like to know just + what books the little fellow has read, I will give you the list + that he wrote out at my request. It does not seem a very long + list, perhaps, but I think very few hard-working boys in New York + have read more than George in the same space of time. Here is the + list: + + "Robinson Crusoe;" "Benjamin Franklin," 2 vols.; "Life of + Napoleon," 2 vols.; "Schoolmaster Stories;" "Hans Brinker;" + "Swiss Family Robinson;" "Dickens's Child's History of England;" + "Kenilworth;" "The Scottish Chiefs;" "The Boy Emigrants;" "Sparks' + Life of Washington;" "Glaisher's Aerial Navigation." + + This letter, dear Jack, is sent, not by way of puffing George, but + as a sort of spur to studious boys and girls who may follow his + example, if somebody puts them up to it.--Yours truly, + + SILAS GREEN. + + * * * * * + + +"SEE HOW I HELP!" + +One of Jack's good friends, L.W.J. sends you this new fable: + + "See how I help!" said a little mouse + To the reapers that reaped the grain, + As he nibbled away, by the door of his house, + With all of his might and main. + + "See how I help!" he went on with his talk; + But they laid all the wide field low + Before he had finished a single stalk + Of the golden, glittering row. + + As the mouse ran into his hole, he said: + "Indeed, I cannot deny, + Although an idea I had in my head, + Those fellows work better than I." + + * * * * * + + +AMONG THE CRANBERRY BOGS. + + New Jersey, 1877. + + DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: You would not think, from their names, + that cranberry bogs are pleasant places, but I enjoyed very much a + visit to one last year in the fall. Seen merely from the road, + a bog doesn't show very well, for the leaves are small, and the + vines are crowded in heavy masses; but, when you get near, the + white and red berries look pretty among the dark-green leaves. + + The meadow is checquered with little canals by means of which the + whole surface is flooded in winter-time, so as to protect the + vines from the ill effects of frosts and thaws. In the spring, the + water is drawn off at low tide through the flood-gates. + + When the cranberry-pickers are at work, they make a curious sight, + for there are people of all ages, odd dresses, and both sexes + among them, and often a tottering old man may be seen working + beside a small child. The little ones can be trusted to gather + cranberries, for the fruit is not easily crushed in handling. + Where cranberries grow thickly, one can almost fill one's hand at + a grasp. + + The overseer's one-roomed shanty, where he cooks, eats and sleeps, + is on a knoll, and near it are the barrels in which the berries + are packed, after they have been sorted according to size and + quality. + + Picking cranberries may be pleasant enough in fine weather, but it + must be miserable work on a cold, drizzly day. + + I hope this short account will be news to some of your chicks, of + whom I am one, dear Jack; and I remain yours truly, + + H. S. + + * * * * * + + + MORE CRYSTALLIZED HORSES. + + Piermont, N. H. + + DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: You ask in the March number of the St. + Nicholas if any of us have seen crystallized horses "with our + own eyes." We (Willie and I) have seen them many times; so has + everybody else who lives here; that is, we have seen something + very much like it, though we do not call it the same. When the + thermometer is from thirty to thirty-six degrees below zero, + horses and oxen are all covered with a white frost, so you cannot + tell a black horse or ox from a white one; nor can you tell young + men from old ones. Their whiskers, eyebrows and eyelashes, are all + perfectly white. I've often had my ears frost-bitten in going to + the school-house, which is only about as far as two blocks in a + city. + + When we see these sights, Jack Frost cannot paint his delicate + pictures on the windows, for a thick white frost covers them all + over, or rubs them out. + + We like the St. Nicholas very much, and even our little sister, + Mary, likes to look at the pictures, and she said that she wished + she could see Jack-in-the-Pulpit. We intend to introduce her next + summer to some of your relations that live by the big brook. + We live about one hundred miles north-west of Concord, in the + Connecticut valley, about half a mile from the Connecticut River. + I am thirteen years old.--Good-bye, + + E. A. M. + + * * * * * + + +A TURTLE CART. + + DEAR JACK: Looking over the fence into my neighbor's yard last + summer, I saw what seemed to be a Liliputian load of hay in a tiny + cart, going along the path. Whatever power drew it, was hidden + from my sight; but the motion of the cart made me half expect to + see a yoke of tiny oxen turn the corner. In a few moments, a small + turtle appeared in sight, plodding leisurely along and drawing + behind him the cart I had seen, which was very small and light. + + I was assured by my little neighbor that the turtle liked the + business very much; but, belonging to the S. P. C. A., I felt + obliged to know the facts. I found that the turtle had his liberty + nearly all the time, and a pond of water specially for his use; + and that, when the haying season should end, he would be turned + out to pasture in his native bog for the rest of the year. + + It was a very comical sight, and, knowing my little friend's + tenderness of heart, I was sure the turtle would receive nothing + but kindness at his hands. The shell was not pierced, but the + queer trotter was attached to the cart by means of a harness made + of tape, allowing him free movement of the head, legs, and tail. + If any of your boys should decide to follow my little friend's + example, I trust that they will be as gentle as he in the + treatment of their turtles.--Yours truly, + + E. F. L. + + * * * * * + + +ANOTHER TURTLE STORY. + + DEAR JACK: One day, Rob and I (he's my brother) heard sister + Welthy screaming awfully. We were playing in the barn, but of + course we rushed out as hard as we could to save her life, if + possible. We did not know where she was, but the screams grew + louder as we neared the house. + + At last we found her near the side-door--and what do you think was + the matter? + + Why, she was screaming at a turtle! + + [Illustration:] A CORNER IN TURTLES. + + You don't know how funny it did seem. But we captured the dreadful + monster (?) and comforted her as well as we could. + + Now, Jack, as you and the Little Schoolma'am can do everything, + wont you please get ST. NICHOLAS to show us a picture of this + scene? I do believe Sis would laugh as hard as any of us if she + could see it.--Yours affectionately, + + NED G. P. + + * * * * * + + +HALF SWEET, HALF SOUR. + + +The birds tell me that in a certain country grows an apple one half of +which is sweet and the other half sour. I don't think I should like +that sort of apple. The sweet side might do very well, as far as it +went; but if you happened to bite on the other side,--ugh! + +I like things that are good all through, so that I can be sure how to +take them. Don't you? + + * * * * * + + + + +OUR MUSIC PAGE + + +CAN A LITTLE CHILD, LIKE ME? + + A THANKSGIVING HYMN. + + Words by MARY MAPES DODGE. + Music by WM. K. BASSFORD. + +[Music: + +Key: Bb Major (Bb, Eb); Time: 2/4; Range: F - D (F, G, A, Bb, C, D) + + ['F', 'Bb', etc. indicate notes having a quarter-note value; + '.' extends a note; '__' includes the notes in a quarter-note + value; '0' indicates a rest.] + + __ +{F Bb Bb Bb |Bb A A . |A G A G |G .FF . | + __ +{F Bb Bb Bb |Bb A A . |C A F CBb|A G F . | + __ __ +{G G C Bb |Bb .AA . |Bb Bb D C |Bb .AA . | + __ +{Bb . F .F|A . G . | + __ +{C . G .G|Bb . A . | + +{Bb . D D |D . G C |Bb . A . |Bb . 0 . || ] + + + +1. Can a little child like me, + Thank the Father fittingly? + Yes, oh yes! be good and true. + Patient, kind in all you do; + Love the Lord and do your part, + Learn to say with all your heart: + Father, we thank Thee! + Father, we thank Thee! + Father in Heaven, we thank Thee! + + +2. For the fruit upon the tree, + For the birds that sing of Thee, + For the earth in beauty drest, + Father, mother and the rest, + For thy precious, loving care, + For Thy bounty ev'rywhere, + Father, we thank Thee! + Father, we thank Thee! + Father in Heaven, we thank Thee! + + + + +Music and words copyrighted, 1877, by Wm. K. Bassford + + * * * * * + + + + +"THE BABY'S OPERA" AND WALTER CRANE. + + +Of the many great artists of England, Walter Crane is accounted among +the ablest and most gifted. As a painter on the canvas he stands high +with critics; and in this country he is most widely known by his +designs of colored picture-books for children. This is what one critic +says of him in this regard: "Walter Crane has every charm. His design +is rich, original, and full of discovery. His drawing is at once manly +and sweet, and his color is as delightful as a garden of roses in +June. And with these accomplishments he comes full-handed to the +children,--and to their parents and lovers too!--and makes us all rich +with a pleasure none of us ever knew as children, and never could have +looked to know." + +After this, it is very discouraging to learn, from a letter of Mr. +Crane's to the Editor of SCRIBNER'S MONTHLY, that one may be deceived +in buying Mr. Crane's books. This is particularly the case with "The +Baby's Opera." So now we tell the readers of ST. NICHOLAS that every +true copy of "The Baby's Opera" bears on its title-page the name +of Messrs. George Routledge & Sons, the publishers, as well as Mr. +Crane's, and that of the engraver and printer, Mr. Edmund Evans. To a +purchaser, it would matter little that there were two editions of a +work as long as the unauthorized one was exactly like the original; +but Mr. Crane says that "the pirated edition grossly misrepresents +his drawings, both in style and coloring; that the arrangement of the +pages is different; and that the full-page colored plates are complete +travesties, and very coarse ones, of the originals." And it does not +at all improve the false copy that it is to be bought for less than +the true one costs. It would be bad enough merely to deprive Mr. Crane +of the profits of selling an exact imitation of his book, but it is +far worse to put a _bad_ sham before the people as the work of a true +artist. This not only lessens his gains, but also takes away from his +good name, besides spoiling the taste of the youngsters. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE LETTER-BOX. + + GIRLS AND BOYS: You will all be very sorry, we know, to learn that + the beginning of Miss Alcott's serial story, "Under the Lilacs," + has been postponed to the December number; but in place of it, we + print this month the capital short story of "Mollie's Boyhood," + which, we feel sure, will go far toward repaying you for the + disappointment. We must ask you to wait a month longer for the + opening chapters of the serial, and we mean to give you then a + much longer installment of it than could have been printed in the + present issue. + + Meanwhile, you will find that the splendid article on Christmas + Gifts, which occupies twenty-two pages of this number, contains + novelties, hints, plates, and directions enough to keep your minds + so busy planning, and your hands so busily at work, during the + next few weeks, that the December ST. NICHOLAS will come before + you think of expecting it, and perhaps before you have half + finished your pretty gifts. + + * * * * * + + DEAR LITTLE SCHOOLMA'AM: Please will you tell me if it is warm + or cold, and if it is dark or light, in the places between the + stars?--Yours affectionately, + + CONSTANCE DURIVAGE. + +The Little Schoolma'am respectfully hands over this question to other +little schoolma'ams. + + * * * * * + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I make so many of the "Thistle-Puffs" spoken of + in the September number that I thought I would let you know how + I fix mine. After I get the thistles I cut off all the green + excepting a little at the bottom; then I pull out all the purple, + and leave them out in the sun till they are perfectly round white + balls. They are very pretty in hats. Please put me down as a + Bird-defender.--Your constant reader, + + ALICE GERTRUDE BENEDICT. + + * * * * * + + + Exmouth, England, August 27th. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have read the story of the "Blue-Coat Boy," + and like it. I am in England, and almost every day see a Blue-Coat + boy pass our house. I think he looks like the picture in the ST. + NICHOLAS. I should not like to wear the long coat, because I + couldn't run in it; and I should think he would get a sunstroke, + without a hat, if he ever goes to the beach. Aunt Fanny is like my + mamma; she never asks for the right thing at the shops. I like the + ST. NICHOLAS, and wish another one would come. My aunty gave it to + me for a Christmas present for a whole year.--Your friend, + + BENEDICT CROWELL. + + * * * * * + +We are very glad to see the interest which our readers have taken in +the subject of "School-luncheons." Many boys and girls have sent in +letters, thanking us for the article in our September number, and +filled with sage bits of experience. We should like to acknowledge +these separately, and print some of them, but can do no more here than +express our thanks to our young correspondents, one and all, for their +kind and hearty words. + +It will interest them all to know, however, that the article has +attracted attention, and aroused enthusiasm among the older people +too,--their fathers and mothers, and teachers, and even their favorite +writers. For here, among the many letters it has brought us, is one +that is peculiarly welcome. Our readers will have little difficulty in +guessing who the writer is: + + August 26th. + + DEAR LITTLE SCHOOLMA'AM: Being much interested, as well as amused, + by the luncheon article in ST. NICHOLAS for September, I should + like to add one more to the list of odd luncheons. + + A pretty little dish of boiled rice, with a cake of molasses, or + preserve of some sort, in the middle. This, fitted into a basket, + and covered with a plate, goes safely, and, with the addition of a + napkin and two spoons, makes a simple meal for hungry children. + + It may find favor in the eyes, or rather mouths, of the young + readers of ST. NICHOLAS, not only because it is good, but because + it was the favorite lunch once upon a time of two little girls who + are now pretty well known as "Meg and Jo March." It may be well + to add that these young persons never had dyspepsia in their + lives,--pie and pickles, cake and candy being unknown "goodies" to + them. + + With best wishes for the success of this much-needed reform in + school-children's diet, I am, yours truly, + + L.M.A. + + * * * * * + +THE MOONS OF MARS. + +Since Professor Proctor wrote the paper entitled "Mars, the Planet of +War," published in this number, there has been made, in relation to +its subject, a discovery that the scientists say will rank among the +most brilliant achievements of astronomy. + +A great difference once thought to exist between Mars and the other +planets was that he had no moons; but during the night of the 16th of +August, Professor Hall, of the U.S. Naval Observatory at Washington, +D.C., actually saw through his telescope that Mars has a moon. On the +18th of August another was seen, smaller than the first and nearer to +the planet. The larger satellite is believed to be not more than ten +miles in diameter: it is less than 12,000 miles distant from its +primary, and its period of revolution about it is 30 hours 14 minutes. +The distance of the smaller moon is 3,300 miles, and its period 7 +hours 38 minutes. There is no doubt that these newly found celestial +bodies are the smallest known. + +From measurements made by Professor Hall, it is found, with a near +approach to certainty, that the mass of Mars is equal to 1-3,090,000th +part of the mass of the sun. This result was arrived at after only ten +minutes of calculation, and is believed to be more nearly accurate +than that obtained by M. Le Verrier, the great French astronomer, from +observations continued through a century and after several years +of laborious calculation by a corps of computers. This wonderful +difference in the expenditure of time and labor is due to the +vigilance of Professor Hall and to the admirable qualities of his +instrument, the great twenty-six inch refracting telescope made by +Alvan Clark & Sons. + + * * * * * + + Oakland, Cal. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I do not wish to make you any trouble, but I + would like it very much if you could find room in some number + to give a good explanation of the great war in Europe. I can't + understand it in the newspaper, but I am pretty sure you can make + it plain and simple enough for all of your young readers.--Yours + truly, + + NEB. + +The Turco-Russian war is partly a conflict of religions and partly one +of politics. The Turks came into Europe as the religious emissaries +of the Mohammedan religion. In all the provinces of Turkey in Europe +which they conquered, the Christians of the Greek, Armenian and +Catholic churches were the victims of a bitter persecution. The Czar +of Russia is the head of the Greek church. He has made repeated wars +in defense of the children of his faith. There have been many wars and +long sieges which, like the present, were said to be only in defense +of the faith of the Greek church--a crusade and a holy war, + +But if "Neb" will only look at the map of Russia, he will see, if he +will study climate a little, that the vast empire of Russia has one +thing lacking. It has no good outlet to the Atlantic Ocean, no power +upon the seas. The Baltic Sea is closed half the year by ice. The +great wheat trade of Russia concentrates at Odessa, on the Black Sea, +and to get her grain to market she must pass through the Turkish lanes +of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. Russia is a prisoner as to +access to the Mediterranean, and so to the Atlantic, and so to the +world at large. If she is at war, she cannot float her fleets. If +she is at peace, she cannot sell her grain without going roundabout +through her neighbors' lots. Turkey stands the tollman at the +turnpike-gate, controlling and usurping the highway of all nations. + +Maps are fascinating reading. "Neb" must not think that religious +faith ever occasioned a war. Russia sincerely desires the protection +of Greek Christians in Roumania and Bulgaria in Europe, and Armenia in +Asia, but she wants also to send her ships free to the winds through +from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. Look at the map once more, +"Neb," and see how much of a great country, fertile, strong, and +industrious, is closed and shut against the outer world by the +absolute Turkish control of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. + + + * * * * * + + Indianapolis, 1877. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have taken every number of your splendid + magazine, and I will now try to do my share to entertain the + others. + + My papa was a soldier in the great civil war, and I was born in + camp just after the close of the war, and am now nearly twelve + years old. + + General Sherman, who made the great "march to the sea," wrote me a + letter, which is very much too good for one boy alone, so I send + it to you to publish, so that other children may have the benefit + of it too.--Your reader, + + BERNIE M. + + "Head-quarters Army of the United States, + "Washington, D.C., April 21, 1877. + + "MASTER BERNIE M. + "Indianapolis: + + "I have received the handsome photograph sent me, and recognize + the features of a fine young lad, who has before him every + opportunity to grow up a man of fine physique, with a mind + cultivated to meet whatever vicissitudes and opportunities the + future may present. Many boys in reading history have a feeling + of regret that their lives had not fallen in some former period, + replete with events of stirring interest, such as our + Revolutionary War, or that in Mexico, or even the Civil War, + wherein they feel that they might have played a conspicuous part. + + "Don't you make this mistake. The next hundred years will present + more opportunities for distinction than the past, for our country + now contains only forty millions of people, which will probably + double every thirty-three years, so that if you live to three + score years and ten you will be a citizen of a republic of two + hundred millions of people. Now, all changes are attended by + conflict of mind or of arms, and you may rest easy that there will + be plenty for you to do, and plenty of honor and fame if you want + them. The true rule of life is to prepare in advance, so as to be + ready for the opportunity when it presents itself. + + "I surely hope you will grow in strength and knowledge, and do a + full man's share in building up the future of this country, which + your fathers have prepared for you. + + "Truly your friend, + "W.T. SHERMAN, General." + + * * * * * + +No doubt many of our readers have read some of the poems of Charles +and Mary Lamb, and all who have will be interested in the following +news concerning one of their books. In 1809 they published a little +volume of "Poetry for Children," but only a few copies were printed, +and these were soon out of print, so that the book has long been +considered lost to the world. It was recently discovered, however, +that the little book had been reprinted in Boston in 1812, and the +only two copies of this edition known to exist in this country have +lately come into possession of Messrs. Scribner, Armstrong & Co., +who intend to republish the volume this fall. The book contains many +delightful little poems for boys and girls, prettily rhymed, and full +of the quaint humor and conceits which mark the other writings of the +authors. We should like to print several of them, but have only room +for these: + + +THE YOUNG LETTER-WRITER. + +_Dear Sir_, _Dear Madam_, or _Dear Friend_, + With ease are written at the top; + When these two happy words are penn'd, + A youthful writer oft will stop, + + And bite his pen, and lift his eyes, + As if he thinks to find in air + The wish'd-for following words, or tries + To fix his thoughts by fixed stare. + + But haply all in vain--the next + Two words may be so long before + They'll come, the writer, sore perplext, + Gives in despair the matter o'er; + + And when maturer age he sees + With ready pen so swift inditing, + With envy he beholds the ease + Of long-accustom'd letter-writing. + + Courage, young friend, the time may be, + When you attain maturer age, + Some young as you are now may see + You with like ease glide down a page. + + Ev'n then, when you, to years a debtor, + In varied phrase your meanings wrap, + The welcom'st words in all your letter + May be those two kind words at top. + + +CRUMBS TO THE BIRDS. + + A bird appears a thoughtless thing, + He's ever living on the wing, + And keeps up such a carolling, + That little else to do but sing + A man would guess had he. + + No doubt he has his little cares, + And very hard he often fares; + The which so patiently he bears, + That, listening to those cheerful airs, + Who knows but he may be + + In want of his next meal of seeds? + I think for _that_ his sweet song pleads; + If so, his pretty art succeeds. + I'll scatter there among the weeds + All the small crumbs I see. + + * * * * * + +We very seldom take up a book only to break the tenth commandment; +but Bayard Taylor's recent volume, "The Boys of Other Countries," +published by the Putnams, always has that effect upon us, for we wish +that every one of the stories in it had been written for ST. NICHOLAS. +The best thing we can say to our boys and girls, of a book so well +described by its title, is that it contains "Jon of Iceland," which +originally appeared in this magazine, and that each of the stories is +as good in its way as "Jon" itself. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE RIDDLE-BOX. + + +DOUBLE ACROSTIC. + +The initials name a noted philosopher, and the finals an eminent +astronomer. + +1. A narrow arm of the sea. 2. A beautiful flower. 3. A tree, usually +growing in moist land. 4. A small marine animal. 5. A river in the +United States. 6. A cone-bearing tree. 7. A tract of land, surrounded +by water. 8. A metal. + +ISOLA. + + +BROKEN WORDS. + +Find a word to fill the single blank, and divide it into smaller words +(without transposing any letters) to fill the other blanks. Thus: Such +_forages_ have gone on in that forest _for ages_. + +1. You must not think the whole were ---- because he ---- ----. +2. One of this boy's minor ---- is his constant climbing ---- ----. +3. When I gave him a pledge, the toper said with a ---- look, "You +---- ---- ---- ----." 6. The alder was pictured against the ----, +every branch, leaf, and ---- ---- standing out clearly. + +B. + + +PICTORIAL NUMERICAL, REBUS. + +Find the sum expressed in each horizontal row, and add together the +four numbers thus found, to form the complete sum expressed by the +rebus. + +[Illustration] + + +HOUR-GLASS PUZZLE. + +1. Unceasing. 2. Of little worth. 3. Habitation. 4. Ancient. 5. A +vowel. 6. Devoured. 7. To muse. 8. A maker of arms. 9. Small flat +fish. The centrals read downward name the act of unfolding. + +GEORGE CHINN. + + +BEHEADINGS AND CURTAILINGS. + +1. Curtail a disgrace, and leave an imposture. Behead, and leave one +of Noah's sons. Curtail, and leave an exclamation denoting surprise, +joy, or grief. Behead again, and leave a vowel. + +2. Curtail a color, and leave a very small part. Behead, and leave +a verb signifying "to strike." Behead again, and leave a pronoun. +Curtail, and leave a simple, personal pronoun. + +3. Curtail a beautiful marine production, and leave a girl's name. +Behead, and leave an ancient coin. Curtail, and leave a conjunction. +Behead, and leave a consonant. + +4. Behead a part of the body, and leave a kind of tree. Curtail, and +leave an article used in toilets. Behead, and leave a preposition. +Curtail, and leave a pronoun. + +5. Curtail a sweet juice collected by bees, and leave a stone for +sharpening razors. Behead, and leave a number. Curtail, and leave a +preposition. Curtail, and leave an invocation. + +N.T.M. + + +NUMERICAL ENIGMA. + +After handing a mug of 9, 2, 3 to the man who was at the 7, 4, 5 of +the 1, 6, 8, Frank resumed reading the life of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, +9. + +ISOLA. + + +EASY DIAMOND PUZZLE. + +1. In dwelling but not in house. 2. A Spanish poem. 3. A girl's name. +4. A precious stone. 5. A term in English law. 6. An insect. 7. In +bird but not in beast. + +O'B. + + +CHARADE. + + I. + + Out on the hill-side, bleak and bare, + In winter's chill and summer's glare, + Down by the ocean's rugged shore, + Where the restless billows toss and roar, + Deep in gloomy caves and mines, + Where mists are foul and the sun ne'er shines, + Man studies my first and second well, + To learn what story they have to tell. + + II. + + Go to the depths of the fathomless sea, + Go where the dew-drop shines on the lea, + Go where are gathered in lands afar, + The treasures of earth for the rich bazaar, + Go to the crowded ball-room, where + All that is lovely, and young, and fair, + Charms the soul with beauty and grace, + And my third shall meet you face to face. + + III. + + When war's red hand was raised to slay, + And front to front great armies lay, + Then, oft in the silent midnight camp, + When naught was heard but the sentry's tramp, + As he patiently paced his lonely round, + My whole was sought, and yet when found, + It sent full many a warrior brave + To his last long rest, in a soldier's grave. + +E.J.A. + + +PUZZLE BOUQUET. + +1. A cunning animal and a covering for the hand. 2. A voracious bird +of prey and a useless plant. 3. A pipe and a flower. 4. A sweetmeat +and a bunch of hair. 5. A noun meaning a quick breaking and a winged +serpent. 6. A stone fence and the blossom of a plant. 7. Fragrant and +a vegetable. 8. An entertainment of dancing and a boy's nickname. +9. Vapor frozen in flakes, and to let fall. 10. To enter into the +conjugal state, and a precious metal. + +GEORGE CHINN. + + +TRANSPOSITIONS. + +Fill the first blank with a certain word, and then, by transposing +the final letter to the place of the initial, form a word to fill the +second blank. Example: In the _halls_ of her ancestors she _shall_ +tread without fear. + +1. There is not on ---- a person of larger ----. 2. On the banks of +the ---- the traveler ---- alone. 3. As the thought of her kindness +---- up in my heart, it causes it to ---- with gratitude. 4. It was +with no ---- intent that ---- destroyed his first will. 5. I noticed +on the ---- of the pond quantities of ----. + +B. + + +LETTER ANAGRAMS. + +Write a line in each case describing the position of the letters +toward each other, and transpose the letters used in this description +to make a word which will answer the definition given. Thus: + + R. } A part of the day. _Ans_. R. on M. (transposed) Morn. + M. } + + 1. { L. } A kind of bird. + { P. } + 2. S. R. Parts of a house. + 3. S. T. A piece of furniture. + 4. { L. } To pillage. + { P. } + 5. { Et. } Not rhythmical. + { Ic. } + +H.H.D. + + +HIDDEN DRESS GOODS. + +1. Seizing the rascal I compelled him to give up the money. 2. Aunt +Nell is fond of singing Hamburg. 3. Belle Prescott only failed once +last year. 4. Eveline never learned to control herself. 5. Where is +Towser, Gertie? 6. I met Homer in Oregon. 7. Where did you find such a +queer fossil, Kenneth? 8. Tom Thumb is a tiny specimen of humanity. 9. +Did Erasmus Lincoln lose all his property by the fire? + + + + +PICTORIAL, PROVERB-ACROSTIC. + +Arrange the words represented by the numbered pictures in their order. +The initials and finals (reading down the former and continuing +down the latter) form a familiar proverb, the sentiment of which is +suggested by the central picture. + +[Illustration] + + * * * * * + + + + +ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN OCTOBER NUMBER. + + DOUBLE DIAMOND PUZZLE.--M + G A S + M A P L E + S L Y + E + S + N U T + S U G A R + T A R + R + +SQUARE-WORD.--Midas, Ivory, Donor, Arose, Syten. +CHARADE.--Dilapidated. NUMERICAL ENIGMA.--Handsome. +DOUBLE ACROSTIC--Centennial Exposition.--ClovE, EsseX, +NaP, TallyhO, EpiglottiS, NerolI, NahanT, IttaI, ArnO, +LemoN. + +RIDDLE.--Linest, Inlets, Enlist, Tinsel, Silent, Listen. + +DIAGONAL PUZZLE.--Grand, Prate. + + G L A R E + C R A T E + P L A T E + C R A N E + P L A I D + +COMBINATION PUZZLE.--P--rive--T + E--pod--E + A--lid--A + C--ape--S + E--lop--E + +EASY DIAMOND PUZZLE.--I, Asa, Isola, Ale, A. + +PUZZLE.--Gondola. + +ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN SEPTEMBER NUMBER were received previous to +September 18, from--Emma Elliott, Brainerd P. Emery, Allie Bertram, +Sarah D. Oakley, "Camille and Leonie," "Tip," "Yankee," J.W. Myers, +George G. Champlin, Alice M. Mason, Maria Peckham, Florence E. Hyde, +Minnie Warner, B. O'Hara, "Green Mountain Boy," John Hinkley, Florence +Wilcox, "Bessie and Sue," Julia Kirene Ladd, Grace Austin Smith, +Arthur C. Smith, George Herbert White, William A. Crocker, Jr, +Georgiana Mead, A.G.D., James Iredell, Lizzie and Anna, Agnes E. +Kennedy, Anna E. Mathewson, C.S. Riche, Edith McKeever, Nessie E. +Stevens, Carrie Lawson, Charles G. Todd, Ella and Kittie Blanke, W. +Creighton Spencer, W. Irving Spencer, Edith Heard, M.W.C., Mary +C. Warren, Lena and Annie, Annie Streckewald, Hattie Peck, Jennie +Passmore, George J. Fiske. + + * * * * * + + + + + + + +CONTENTS VOLUME V. + +[Transcriber's note: +Some entries were missing from this index. For completeness they have +been added and marked with an asterisk. +Some parts of the Table of Contents were illegible, and a few missing +page numbers have been replaced with '?'s.] + + ALCOTT, Miss. (Illustrated from photograph) _F. B. S._ 129 + ALPHABET FRANÇAIS, Un. (Illustrated) _Laura Caxton_ 816 + ALWAYS BEHINDHAND. Talk with Girls _M. D. K._ 434 + ANNIE AND THE BALLS. (Illustrated by the Author) _H. E. H._ 205 + APRIL'S SUNBEAM. Verses _Joy Allison_ 398 + ARMS OF GREAT BRITAIN, The. (Illustrated by Alfred Kappes) + _Susan Archer Weiss_ 190 + ATLANTIC CABLE, Secrets of the. (Illustrated by A.C. Warren) + _William H. Rideing_ 327 + AX OF RANIER, The. (Illustrated by E.B. Bensell) + _Thomas Dunn English_ 709 + "BABY'S OPERA" AND WALTER CRANE, The. 69 + BARBECUE, The. (Illustrated by Walter Shirlaw) + _Sarah Winter Kellogg_ 602 + BELINDA BLONDE. Verses. _Laura E. Richards_ 272 + BELL-RINGERS, The Stickleback. (Illustrated by James C. Beard) + _C.F. Holder_ 31 + BIRDS AND THEIR FAMILIES. (Illustrated) _Professor W. K. Brooks_ + 606 + BIRDS FLY, How. (Illustrated) _Professor W. K. Brooks_ 734 + BOGGS'S PHOTOGRAPH. Picture. 21 + BORN IN PRISON. (Illustrated by Edwin L. Sheppard) + _Julia P. Ballard_ 730 + BOY IN THE Box, The. (Illustrated by C. S. Reinhart) + _Helen C. Barnard_ 356 + BOY'S EXPERIENCE WITH TAR MARBLES, A. (Illustrated by Jessie Curtis) + _C.S.N._ 617 + BOY WHO JUMPED ON TRAINS, The. Poem. (Illustrated by L. Hopkins) + _Mary Hartwell_ 132 + BRUNO'S REVENGE (Illustrated) _{Author of "Alice in Wonderland"_ + 18? + BUTTERFLY-CHASE, The. Poem. _Ellis Gray_ 548 + BUTTS, A Chapter of Five Pictures. 77 + BY THE SAD SEA WAVES. Picture drawn by "_Sphinx_" 716 + CAN A LITTLE CHILD LIKE ME? (Thanksgiving Hymn) _Mary Mapes Dodge_ + 68 + CANARY THAT TALKED TOO MUCH, The. _Margaret Eytinge_ 331 + CARLYLE, Thomas. (Crumbs from Older Reading, III.) _Julia E. Sargent_ + 565 + CAROL, The Minstrel's. A Christmas Colloquy. _I. V. Blake_ 153 + CHARADES, Four. Verses. _C.P. Cranch_ 406 + CHARCOAL-BURNERS' FIRE, The. (Illustrated by J. L. Dickinson) + _David Ker_ 490 + CHASED BY WOLVES. _George Dudley Lawson_ 3 + CHILD-QUEEN, A. (Illustrated by Alfred Fredericks) + _Cecilia Cleveland_ 1 + CHRISTMAS CARD. 91 + CHRISTMAS-GIFTS, A Budget of Home-Made. (Illustrated) 42 + CHURNING. Poem. (Illustrated by J. E. Kelly) _Sara Keables Hunt_ + 676 + COCK AND THE SUN, The. Jingle. (Illustrated by F. S. Church) + _J. P. B_ 359 + COMMON-SENSE IN THE HOUSEHOLD. Verses. (Illustrated by Jessie Curtis) + _Margaret Vandegrift_ 326 + COOLEST MAN IN RUSSIA, The. (Illustrated by J. E. Kelly) _David Ker_ + 229 + CRICKET ON THE HEARTH, The. Poem. (Illustrated) _Clara Doty Bates_ + 33 + CRIP'S GARRET-DAY. _Sarah J. Prichard_ 339 + CROW THAT THE CROW CROWED, The. _S. Conant Foster_ 694 + CRUMBS FROM OLDER READING _Julia E. Sargent_ + I. EMERSON 262 + II. IRVING 354 + III. CARLYLE 565 + DAB KINZER: A Story of a Growing Boy. (Illustrated by H. F. Farney, + Geo. Inness, Jr., Sol. Eytinge and H. P. Smith) + _William O. Stoddard_ 553, 620, 679, 744, 798 + DEBBY'S CHRISTMAS. (Illustrated by Jessie Curtis) _Ella A. Drinkwater_ + 223 + DICK HARDIN AWAY AT SCHOOL. _Lucy J. Rider_ 386 + DIGGER-WASPS AT HOME, The. (Illustrated by R. Riordan) _E. A. E._ + 667 + DOG-SHOW, A Visit to a London. (Illustrated by J. F. Runge) + _Laura Sked Pomeroy_ 420 + *DOMESTIC TRAGEDY, A. In Two Parts. Illustration. 31 + DRIFTED INTO PORT. (Illustrated by Sol. Eytinge and Thomas Moran). + _Edwin Hodder_ 342, 425, 494 + EASTER EGGS. Poem. _Clara W. Raymond_ 419 + EASTER IN GERMANY. (Illustrated) _F.E. Corne_ 381 + EASTER LILIES. Picture 399 + EMERGENCY MISTRESS, The. (Illustrated) _Frank R. Stockton_ 669 + EMERSON, RALPH WALDO. (Crumbs from Older Reading, I.) + _Julia E. Sargent_ 262 + EXCITING RIDE An. Picture drawn by _Miss S. A. Rankin_ 652 + FAIR EXCHANGE, A. Poem. _M. F. Butts_ 820 + FATHER CHIRP. Verses. (Illustrated by L. Hopkins) _S. C. Stone_ 476 + FERN-SEED. Poem. _Celia Thaxter_ 705 + FISHING-BIRDS OF FLORIDA, Some. (Illustrated) _Mrs. Mary Treat_ 282 + FORTY, Less One. Poem. (Illustrated by Sol. Eytinge) + _James Richardson_ 579 + "FOUR LITTLE HOUSES BLUE AND ROUND." Jingle _M. F. B._ 465 + FOX, THE MONKEY, AND THE PIG, The. (Illustrated by the Author) + _Howard Pyle_ 743 + FOX AND THE TURKEYS, The. (Illustrated from Gustave Doré) + _Susan Coolidge_ 756 + FULL STOP, A. Silhouette picture drawn by _L. Hopkins_ 387 + GERTY. (Illustrated by Frederick Dielman) _Margaret W. Hamilton_ + 690 + GET UP! GOT DOWN! Silhouettes drawn by _L. Hopkins_ 461 + GIFTS FOR ST. NICHOLAS. Poem. _Emma E. Brewster_ 294 + GIRL WHO SAVED THE GENERAL, The. (Illustrated by H. F. Farney) + _Charles H. Woodman_ 577 + GUEST, An Agreeable _Susan A. Brown_ 180 + HANSA, The Little Lapp Maiden. (Illustrated) _Kate B. Horton_ 305 + HAPPY FIELDS OF SUMMER. Poem. (Illustrated) _Lucy Larcom_ 666 + "HAPPY LITTLE FROGGY." Poem. (Illustrated by F. S. Church) + _E. Müller_ 789 + HORSE AT SEA, A. (Illustrated by J.E. Kelly) _C. B._ 367 + HORSES OF VENICE, The Famous. (Illustrated) _Mary Lloyd_ 89 + HOW BIRDS FLY. (Illustrated) _Professor W.K. Brooks_ 734 + HOW HE CAUGHT HIM. Six Pictures. 740 + HOW I WEIGHED THE THANKSGIVING TURKEY. _G. M. Shaw_ 34 + HOW KITTY GOT HER NEW HAT. (Illustrated by J. E. Kelly) _E. P. W._ 182 + HOW KITTY WAS LOST IN A TURKISH BAZAAR. (Illustrated by Howard Pyle) + _Sara Keables Hunt_ 377 + HOW LILY-TOES WAS CAUGHT IN A SHOWER. (Illustrated by Jessie Curtis) + _Emily H. Leland_ 731 + HOW MANDY WENT ROWING WITH THE CAP'N. (Illustrated by the Author) + _Mary Hallock Foote_ 449 + HOW MATCHES ARE MADE. (Illustrated by A.C. Warren) _F. H. C_ 315 + HOW SIR WILLIAM PHIPS FOUND THE TREASURE IN THE SEA. (Illustrated + by J. O. Davidson) _S. G. W. Benjamin_ 278 + HOW TEDDY CUT THE PIE. Verses. (Illustrated) _Rossiter Johnson_ 821 + HOW THE PONY WAS TAKEN. (Illustrated) _C. W._ 174 + HOW THE STONE-AGE CHILDREN PLAYED. (Illustrated) + _Charles C. Abbott_ 413 + HOW THE WEATHER IS FORETOLD. (Illustrated by W.H. Gibson) + _James H. Flint_ 581 + HOW TO KEEP A JOURNAL _W. S. Jerome_ 789 + HOW TO MAKE A TELEPHONE. (Illustrated) _M. F._ 549 + HOW TO TRAVEL _Susan Anna Brown_ 650 + HOW WILLY WOLLY WENT A-FISHING. Verses. (Illustrated by Howard Pyle) + _S.C. Stone_ 562 + HUCKLEBERRY. (Illustrated) _Frank R. Stockton_ 274 + ICE-BOAT, How to make an. (Diagrams by the Author) + _J. H. Hubbard_ 220 + "I'M A LITTLE STORY." Poem. (Illustrated by Sol. Eytinge) + _Margaret Eytinge_ 380 + IRVING, WASHINGTON. (Crumbs from Older Reading, III.) + _Julia E. Sargent_ 354 + ITALIAN FLOWER-MERCHANT, The Little. Picture drawn by + _Miss E. M. S. Scannell_ 475 + JACK'S CHRISTMAS. (Illustrated by Jennie Brownscombe) + _Emma K. Parrish_ 124 + JAPANESE "HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT," The. Picture drawn by + _William McDougal_ 219 + JINGLES. 6, 41, 359, 404, 412, 465 + JOHN AND HIS VELOCIPEDE. Sketches drawn by _B. D._ 650 + JOHNNY. (Illustrated by R. Sayre) _Sargent Flint_ 361 + JOHNNY'S LOST BALL _Lloyd Wyman_ 500 + JUNO'S WONDERFUL TROUBLES. (Illustrated by F. S. Church) _E. Müller_ + 312 + KEPT IN. Picture drawn by _M. Woolf_ 424 + KING AND THE HARD BREAD, The. (Illustrated) _J. L._ 503 + KING AND THE THREE TRAVELERS, The. (Illustrated by John Lafarge) + _Arlo Bates_ 207 + KING CHEESE. Poem. Versified from story by Maud Christiani. + (Illustrated by L. Hopkins) _J. T. Trowbridge_ 641 + LADY-BIRD, Fly away Home. Picture drawn by _M. Woolf_ 455 + *LARGEST VOLCANO IN THE WORLD, The. (Illustrated.) _Sarah Coan_ 13 + LEFT OUT. Verse. _A. G. W._ 128 + LETTER TO AMERICAN BOYS, A. _George MacDonald_ 202 + LINNET'S FEE, The. Poem. _Mrs. Annie A. Preston_ 798 + LION-KILLER, The. (Illustrated by Alfred Kappes). From the French. + _Mary Wager Fisher_ 78 + LITTLE BEAR. Poem. (Illustrated by Addie Ledyard) + _Samuel W. Duffield_ 726 + "LITTLE BO-PEEP, SHE WENT TO SLEEP." Picture drawn by + _Miss Jessie McDermot_ 268 + LITTLE RED CANAL-BOAT, The. (Illustrated) _M. A. Edwards_ 541 + *LITTLE TWEET. Illustrated. 64 + LIVING SILVER _Mary H. Seymour_ 350 + LONDON CHAIR-MENDER. (Illustrated) _Alexander Wainwright_ 821 + LONDON CHICK-WEED MAN, The. (Illustrated) _Alexander Wainwright_ 361 + LONDON DUST-MAN, The. (Illustrated) _Alexander Wainwright_ 272 + LONDON MILK-WOMAN, The. (Illustrated) _Alexander Wainwright_ 694 + LONG JOURNEY, A. Verses. _Josephine Pollard_ 540 + LORD MAYOR OF LONDON'S SHOW, The. (Illustrated) _Jennie A. Owen_ 22 + MACKEREL-FISHING. (Illustrated by H. P. Smith) _Robert Arnold_ 706 + MAGICIAN AND HIS BEE, The. (Illustrated) _P. F._ 143 + MAKING IT SKIP. Verse. (Illustrated by Thomas Moran) _M. M. D._ 15 + MAKING READY FOR A CRUISE. Picture. 561 + MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW WHEN TO STOP, The. Verse. _M. M. D._ 415 + MARBLES, Some In-door Games of. (Illustrated) _L. D. Snook_ 295 + MARS, THE PLANET OF WAR. (Illustrated by the Author) + _Richard A. Proctor_ 26 + MARSHAL DE SAXE AND THE DUTCH BLACKSMITH. _David Ker_ 436 + MASTER MONTEZUMA. (Illustrated) _C. C. Haskins_ 535 + MATCHES ARE MADE, How. (Illustrated by A. C. Warren) _F. H. C._ 315 + MAY-DAY, The Story of. (Illustrated by Howard Pyle) _Olive Thorne_ + 486 + MEADOW TALK. Verse. (Illustrated by Jessie Curtis) + _Caroline Leslie_ 617 + MERRY MIKE. Poem. (Illustrated by Albert Shults) _Fleta Forrester_ + 176 + MERRY RAIN. Poem. _Fleta Forrester_ 425 + MOCKING-BIRD AND THE DONKEY, The. Poem. _William Cullen Bryant_ 88 + MODERN WILLIAM TELL, A. Picture drawn by _L. Hopkins_ 207 + MOLLIE'S BOYHOOD. (Illustrated by George White) _Sarah E. Chester_ 7 + MONEY is MADE, Where. (Illustrated by Fred. B. Schell) _M. W._ 477 + MONUMENT WITH A STORY, A. _Fannie Roper Feudge_ 364 + MOON, FROM A FROG'S POINT OF VIEW, The. (Illustrated by H.L. Stephens) + _Fleta Forrester_ 677 + *MOONS OF MARS, The. 69 + MOUSIE'S ADVENTURES FROM GARRET TO CELLAR. Picture drawn by + "_Sphinx_" 405 + MUSIC ON ALL FOURS. Poem. (Illustrated by Sol. Eytinge) + _Josephine Pollard_ 200 + MUSTANG, The Wild. (Illustrated) _Charles Barnard_ 396 + MY GIRL. Poem. _John S. Adams_ 25 + MY ST. GEORGE. (Illustrated by Alfred Kappes) _Alice Maude Eddy_ 726 + NANCY CHIME. Poem. (Illustrated) _S. Smith_ 739 + NAN'S PEACE-OFFERING. (Illustrated by C. S. Reinhart) + _Kate W. Hamilton_ 284 + NEWS-CARRIER, The. Poem. (Illustrated by Jessie Curtis) + _Catharine S. Boyd_ 349 + NEW-YEAR CARD. 182 + NIGHT WITH A BEAR, A. (Illustrated by W. L. Sheppard) + _Jane G. Austin_ 332 + NIMBLE JIM AND THE MAGIC MELON. (Illustrated by E. B. Bensell) + _J.A. Judson_ 34 + NO SCHOOL TO-DAY. Picture. Drawn by F. Opper 146 + NOW, OR THEN? Talk with Girls. _Gail Hamilton_ 123 + "OH, I'M MY MAMMA'S LADY-GIRL." Verse. (Illustrated by Addie Ledyard) + _M. M. D._ 41 + OLD MAN AND THE NERVOUS COW, The. (Illustrated by E.B. Bensell) + _R. E._ 264 + OLD NICOLAI. (Illustrated) _Paul Fort_ 399 + OLD SOUP. (Illustrated by J. E. Kelly) _Mrs. E. W. Latimer_ 463 + "ONE DAY AN ANT WENT TO VISIT HIS NEIGHBOR." Jingle. _M. F. B._ 404 + ONE SATURDAY. (Illustrated by Sol. Eytinge) _Sarah Winter Kellogg_ + 514 + ONLY A DOLL. Poem. _Sarah O. Jewell_ 552 + ON THE ICE. Picture drawn by _L. Hopkins_ 300 + "OPEN THE SNOWY LITTLE BED." Jingle. _M. F. B._ 412 + OUT FISHING. Picture drawn by _J. Hopkins_ 759 + PAINTER'S SCARE-CROW, The. (Illustrated by Sol. Eytinge) + _C.P. Cranch_ 714 + PARISIAN CHILDREN. (Illustrated by K. Brown) _Henry Bacon_ 456 + PARLOR BALL. (Illustrated by the author) _L. Hopkins_ 492 + PARLOR MAGIC. (Illustrated) _Professor Leo H. Grindon_ 811 + PERSEUS, The Story of. _Mary A. Robinson_ 630 + PETERKINS ARE OBLIGED TO MOVE, The. _Lucretia P. Hale_ 458 + PETERKINS' CHARADES, The. _Lucretia P. Hale_ 91 + PETER PIPER'S PICKLES, Mrs. (Illustrated by F. S. Church) + _E. Müller_ 519 + POEMS BY TWO LITTLE AMERICAN GIRLS. _Elaine and Dora Goodale_ 109 + POLLY: A Before-Christmas Story. (Illustrated) _Hope Ledyard_ 19 + PORPOISES, About the. (Illustrated by J. O. Davidson) _J. D._ 142 + POTTERY, A Chat about. (Illustrated from photographs) + _Edwin C. Taylor_ 104 + PRIMKINS' SURPRISE, Mrs. (Illustrated by Sol. Eytinge) + _Olive Thorne_ 794 + PRINCE CUCURBITA. (Illustrated by E. M. Richards) + _Edith A. Edwards_ 792 + PROFESSOR, The. _Clarence Cook_ 402 + PUCK PARKER. (Illustrated by J. Wells Champney) + _Lizzie W. Champney_ 416 + QUICKSILVER. _Mary H. Seymour_ 359 + RAID OF THE CAMANCHES, The. _The Author of "We Boys"_ 267 + RAIN. Poem. _Edgar Fawcett_ 613 + RAVENS AND THE ANGELS, The. (Illustrated by Sol. Eytinge) + _Author of "The Schonberg-Cotta Family"_ 169, 242 + RIDDLE, A Double. Verses. _J.G. Holland_ 94 + RODS FOR FIVE. (Illustrated) _Sarah Winter Kellogg_ 645 + ROWING AGAINST TIDE. _Theodore Winthrop_ 75 + SAM'S BIRTHDAY. (Ilustrated by Sol. Eytinge) _Irwin Russell_ 482 + SATURDAY AFTERNOON. Picture drawn by _Miss S. W. Smith_ 725 + SCRUBBY'S BEAUTIFUL TREE. (Illustrated by F. A. Chapman and Sol. + Eytinge) _J. C. Purdy_ 147 + SEEING HIMSELF AS OTHERS SEE HIM. Picture drawn by + _J. Wells Champney_ 431 + SHEPHERD-BOY, The. Poem. _Emily S. Oakey_ 241 + SILLY GOOSE, The. Poem. (Illustrated by F. S. Church) + _E.A. Smuller_ 453 + SIMPLE SIMON. Picture, drawn by _E.B. Bensell_ 791 + SING-A-SING. Poem. (Illustrated by Alfred Kappes) _S. C. Stone_ 122 + SING-AWAY BIRD, The. Poem. _Lucy Larcom_ 462 + SINGING PINS. (Illustrated by A. C. Warren) _Harlan H. Ballard_ 14? + SKATING. Poem. _Theodore Winthrop_ 23? + SNEEZE DODSON'S FIRST INDEPENDENCE DAY. (Illustrated by Sol. Eytinge) + _Mrs. M. H. W. Jaquith_ 61? + SOLIMIN: A Ship of the Desert. (Illustrated) _Susan Coolidge_ 26? + SONG OF SPRING, A. _Caroline A. Mason_ 48? + SOMETHING IN THE OLD CLOTHES LINE. (Illustrated) _Paul Fort_ 21? + *STORY THAT WOULDN'T BE TOLD, The. (Illustrated.) _Louise Stockton_ 18 + *WILLOW WAND, The. Poem. Illustrated. _A. E. W._ 16 + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and +Girls, Vol. 5, Nov 1877-Nov 1878, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. 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